- Arsenal face Chelsea on Wednesday before FA Cup and League Cup games
- Wenger has revealed that they have a number of key absentees
- French tactician can’t afford to see his side slip up over an important week
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Arsenal have a string of important games coming up, but Arsene Wenger has detailed an injury crisis that will raise real concern for the Gunners.
Wenger’s men take on Chelsea in the Premier League on Wednesday night before travelling to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup on Sunday evening.
Following on from that they face Antonio Conte’s side again in the League Cup next Wednesday night, and so with their hopes of silverware on the line coupled with the all-important on-going race for a top-four finish in the league, the last thing Arsenal need is key absentees.
Unfortunately for the north London giants, that’s exactly what they’ve got on their hands as Wenger has confirmed that Laurent Koscielny, Sead Kolasinac, Nacho Monreal, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey all have problems, while Mesut Ozil will face a fitness test, as per The Mirror.
It seems the worst setback is Kolasinac, who is expected to be out for two weeks according to the report, and that will be a big blow for Arsenal and Wenger who will likely go with Ainsley Maitland-Niles as a makeshift left back again.
The Gunners do have a relatively deep squad and so will be confident of having players able to step in to fill the voids, but ultimately that is an important quintet of players who all play key roles and so it remains to be seen how they cope without them.
Arsenal are already six points adrift of the top four, albeit with their game in hand against Chelsea to be played on Wednesday night. Nevertheless, the pressure really is on for them to avoid dropping any more points while they’ll be desperate to stay in the hunt for trophies too along with the Europa League.