Unfortunately the Frenchman confirmed that Francis Coquelin is set for an extended spell on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury during our 2-1 defeat at West Brom on Saturday.
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Olivier Giroud gave Arsenal the lead in the 28th minute, but the hosts quickly levelled the scoring via James Morrison.
The Baggies then scored the decisive goal before half-time, with Gunners’ skipper Mikel Arteta bundling the ball into his own net in the 40th minute.
The Chilean was the only glimmer of light in what was otherwise an underwhelming performance from the Gunners at the Hawthorns, spurning yet another chance to go top at the expense of Manchester City. “I believe West Brom did fight with 100 per cent commitment as well and you have to give them credit for that”. “We tried and tried and tried until the last minute but we can’t give any excuses – today we lost the three points”.
“Our defending at that level was very, very poor”. Arsenal missed several chances to equalise themselves, most obviously when Santi Cazorla slipped and ballooned a late penalty over the bar. “We produced enough to win the game”, he added. It is frustrating, it is disappointing and what you want is to learn from a game you didn’t deserve to lose.
With the likes of Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla carrying the creative workload, having the option of bringing Ramsey back in can help create the chances needed to see off the Croatian side.
Wenger had indicated before Saturday’s visit to Albion that he expected Ramsey to have recovered by Tuesday from the hamstring trouble that has kept him out of action for the last month, but in the wake of the loss here he said: “It looks hard to have players to come back for Tuesday”.
The injury-hit visitors suffered an early setback as midfielder Francis Coquelin limped off after jarring his knee in a challenge with Claudio Yacob. “I thought Arsenal were very good, particularly second half when they ramped it up”.
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“I can’t say more than that but certainly for the next two months we will play without Coquelin”.
