Arsenal are set to be without the midfielder Francis Coquelin for at least two months following the knee injury he sustained at West Brom.
Coquelin was substituted during the first half of Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat at the Hawthorns on Saturday and now faces a period on the sidelines. The Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger suggested that Mathieu Flamini could provide cover or Calum Chambers could step into midfield, with Mikel Arteta also injured.
Arsenal play Dynamo Zagreb on Tuesday night in the Champions League, knowing that they must win both remaining matches in the group stage to advance and hope other results go their way.
“I’m always cautious. It will be at least two months but I don’t want to speculate more than that,” said Wenger when asked about Coquelin. “I must say we have been hit very hard in November. We have lost a few players.”
While the January transfer window will give Wenger the chance to bring in another midfielder, he suggested he already has a number of options available to step into Coquelin’s place.
“It is of course a disappointment to lose him in the longer term but we have in the squad the players who can compensate. We have lost a player of quality for a while but we know that can happen,” he added.
“I will give myself time, we have players who play in this position like Mathieu Flamini and players who can play there like Calum Chambers.
“Sometimes this is a good opportunity for other players to turn up and do the job. I will do what is needed in January, knowing as well it is not an ideal transfer market.”