Arsene Wenger ‘Shocked’ After Arsenal Suffer Triple Injury Blow

Arsene Wenger has admitted he’s been left shocked after Arsenal suffered TREE injuries during Tuesday night’s 4-0 FA Cup replay victory over Hull City.

Per Mertesacker was the first casualty as the German defender was forced off in the 33rd minute after suffering a head injury following a nasty clash with Nick Powell that saw both players require treatment for cuts.

Our defensive options were then limited further when Gabriel asked to be taken off shortly after half-time with the Brazilian international suffering a suspected hamstring tweak.

Gabriel’s replacement was Aaron Ramsey as the Welshman slotted in to midfield with Calum Chambers moving to centre-back and Matheiu Flamini filling-in at right-back in a make-shift back four during the closing stages of the game.

However, Ramsey didn’t last long as the Welshman was also forced off just 15 minutes after coming on after picking up yet another thigh injury at the KC Stadium.

Wenger has been quoted by ESPN as saying immediately after the game that he’s been left shocked by the injuries and confirmed that Ramsey is the most serious of the three with the boss suspecting the midfielder has suffered a thigh strain.

“I’m a bit under shock there because we lost our two centre-backs in the game and after we lost Aaron Ramsey,”

“Mertesacker is not serious, just a concussion, a little head concussion. Gabriel looks all right, Ramsey I’m a bit more concerned about [because it’s] a muscular thigh injury.”

Arsene then spoke to Arsenal.com a short while later and it seems he got a brief update from his medical team as he confirmed that Mertesacker’s injury is in fact just a cut near his eye, but he also says that Ramsey may have suffered a thigh strain.

“Mertesacker is just a cut on his eye and looks to be very short. Gabriel is a hamstring and Ramsey is a thigh problem.” Wenger told Arsenal.com

“To me, the most serious looks to be Ramsey. He has a thigh problem, I think it is a thigh strain.”

It looks as though Mertesacker and Gabriel could now miss Sunday’s FA Cup quarter final with Watford and with Laurent Koscielny also expected to miss out with a calf injury, we suddenly have serious problems at centre-back.

The likelihood is that Calum Chambers will start with Nacho Monreal in the middle with Hector Bellerin and Kieran Gibbs occupying the full-back slots. That could do a job against Watford but it could get very messy if that’s the back four that faces Barcelona next Wednesday.

We’ll have to wait for more news on the three injuries but hopefully none are too serious as we’re already having to deal with a lengthy injury list that includes Petr Cech, Laurent Koscileny, Jack Wilshere, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky and Mikel Arteta.