Arsenal are facing the prospect of being without the influential Alexis Sánchez and Santi Cazorla for their decisive Champions League group game against Olympiakos next week, though initial assessments of Laurent Koscielny’s fitness are more promising.
Sánchez was substituted after an hour of Sunday’s draw at Norwich City having pulled up with hamstring trouble in his right leg. He had felt tightness in a muscle after the midweek win over Dinamo Zagreb but tests had indicated he could play at Carrow Road, only for the forward to hobble off signalling to the bench he had felt something tear. If he did suffer a tear, he can expect to be out for at least a month.
Cazorla suffered a kick from Gary O’Neil on his left knee which appeared to jar the joint and ensured he played the second half, according to Arsène Wenger, “on one leg”. Arsenal fear the Spaniard has sustained ligament damage.
The club will compile a more detailed assessment of both players’ injuries in the next 48 hours but already rate them serious doubts for the games against Sunderland and, more significantly, in Greece next Wednesday. Arsenal need to beat Olympiakos by two goals – or 3-2, 4-3 and so on – to guarantee qualification for the knockout phase. They have played the Greek team three times in final group ties since 2009 and lost them all, albeit they had already qualified on each occasion.
The news on Koscielny is far more encouraging despite Wenger having said after the match that the France centre-half “could not walk” after suffering a hip spasm eight minutes into the game. It led him to clutch at his lower back and depart the pitch after 11 minutes – he was replaced by Gabriel Paulista – to join an already lengthy list of walking wounded. Yet, from those worrying early signs, the hope is Koscielny will return to training before the end of the week and should be in contention to play against Sunderland at the Emirates on Saturday.
His availability would represent a boost for Arsenal, fourth in the Premier League table. Before the draw at Norwich they were already without Kieran Gibbs (calf), Jack Wilshere (hairline fracture of his left leg), Danny Welbeck (knee), Theo Walcott (calf), Francis Coquelin (knee), Mikel Arteta (calf) and Tomas Rosicky (knee). The hope is Walcott is closest to a first-team return, possibly this weekend.