Wenger concerned by injuries ahead of Spurs game

Mark Holmes
Arsene Wenger: Confident in his Arsenal players

Arsene Wenger: Confident in his Arsenal players

Arsene Wenger says he is “very concerned” by the amount of Arsenal players currently injured ahead of Sunday’s north London derby against Tottenham.

Arsenal were already without nine players going into Wednesday night’s Champions League tie at Bayern Munich before losing Laurent Koscielny to a hip problem before kick-off at the Allianz Arena.

Wenger is hopeful the defender will be available for Sunday’s game at Emirates Stadium, but Hector Bellerin (groin), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring), Theo Walcott (calf), Mikel Arteta (ankle/foot), Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), David Ospina (shoulder), Jack Wilshere (ankle), Tomas Rosicky (knee) and Danny Welbeck (knee) will all miss out.

Asked about the pile up of injuries, Wenger said: “I’m very concerned. Because we are only in November and we have so many players out. We go into the Christmas period and I am concerned.

“Because we have too many players out. I give Koscielny 80 per cent. He will have a test tomorrow.”

Koscielny’s absence against Bayern certainly proved costly in midweek, with Arsenal shipping five, just a fortnight after beating the German champions 2-0 in London.

Having watched back the game, Wenger maintains that it was his side’s defensive display which cost them the chance of a positive result.

“When you play against Bayern they are Bayern,” Wenger said. “I watched the game again and not a lot has changed since my analysis after the game.

“I believe we created a high number of chances but we had not our usual defensive performance. Especially on the first two goals.

“They are maybe the best team in Europe but if we’d had our usual defensive performance we could have repeated our performance from the first two games.”

Defeat to Bayern left Arsenal bottom of Group F, but they can still qualify for the last 16 of the Champions League if they beat Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos, who must also lose their other game against Bayern.

“I want to stay in the Champions League and will do absolutely everything to stay in it,” Wenger added.

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