The Arsenal forward was hurt during the goalless draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday and though the 26-year-old had a scan yesterday, he has another one today and is not expected to be fit before the next international break – with fears he could be out for a month.
The loss of Welbeck would be a blow to England manager Gareth Southgate, whose side are five points clear at the top of Group F with just games against Slovenia and Lithuania to come. He was a substitute in the wins against Malta, when he scored, and Slovakia two weeks ago.
Welbeck is certain to miss tomorrow’s League Cup clash with Doncaster at the Emirates Stadium, and also next week’s Premier League clash with West Brom.
But he could also miss the Gunners’ next Europa League clash at BATE Borisov next week, and the League game against Brighton.
Shkodran Mustafi has meanwhile told Arsenal that they need to show more of the grit they displayed against Chelsea if they are to challenge for honours this season.
Welbeck’s stunning assist for Lacazette’s first home goal
Everyone gave everything and it’s really important we keep going like this
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger
The centre-back was one of Arsenal’s best players in a determined display at Stamford Bridge, which went some way to making up for the limp recent away displays at Stoke and Liverpool which had piled the pressure on manager Arsene Wenger.
“Happy? No, because I would like to win, but it’s a fair point,” he said.
“We had some great opportunities. The team performance was spot-on. Everyone gave everything and it’s really important we keep going like this.
“We are a team that are willing to learn. We can build from this performance because we were really well organised when we didn’t have the ball.
“When we had the ball, we played some brilliant one-touch football.
"We played against the champions and, if you play like this, you’ll get a lot of points.”
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