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Arsenal fear Danny Welbeck out for at least a month with groin injury sustained in draw with Chelsea
Arsenal fear Danny Welbeck will be ruled out for at least the next month with the groin injury he suffered in the goalless draw against Chelsea.
Welbeck is almost certainly out of England’s final two World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and Lithuania next month, having undergone a scan on Monday.
The forward is scheduled to have another scan on Tuesday, when he should learn exactly how long he will be out, but Arsenal are already fearful it will be at least another month before he is available again.
Welbeck will face a lengthy spell out if the second scan confirms a tear and the 26-year-old’s latest injury setback is a blow for Arsenal considering he had started the season well.
Having scored three goals already, Welbeck performed admirably in his fifth successive Premier League start of the season against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge before being forced off in the 73rd minute.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is not short of options to replace Welbeck, as both Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud started on the substitutes’ bench, but his industry and work-rate will be missed. Welbeck’s absence will also be a blow for England manager Gareth Southgate, who already fears he will be without Dele Alli for the Slovenia and Lithuania games.
Alli is facing the threat of being banned for his middle= finger salute against Slovakia and that could have handed an opportunity to Welbeck, who scored as a substitute in the victory over Malta.
Despite potentially losing Welbeck, who missed eight months of 2016 with a knee cartilage problem, once again, Aaron Ramsey believes Arsenal have proved they can compete with the top teams in the Premier League.
Asked if the draw with Chelsea was a statement after the thrashing away at Liverpool, Ramsey replied: “Yeah, of course. We needed this, we were due one and we showed that we are able to come away from home and compete against the best teams in the league. We can take a lot of positives from this and, hopefully, have a successful season.”
Following the Carabao Cup clash against Doncaster Rovers on Wednesday night, Arsenal have a winnable run of Premier League games against West Bromwich Albion, Brighton and Watford.
Ramsey added: “It’s important now to capitalise on this result. We’ve got a couple of home games now and hopefully we can win them and put ourselves in a good position again.”