Wenger Gives Update On Koscielny Injury

Arsenal put one foot in the group stages of the Champions League on Wednesday night after beating Fenerbache 3-0 in Turkey but the win came at a cost with defender Laurent Koscielny going off after taking a kick to the face.

The Frenchman was forced off holding a bloodied towel over his face in the 29th minute after Fenerbache striker Webo accidentally kicked him just above the eye when trying to control a high ball.

Boss Arsene Wenger was quizzed about the injury after the game and confirmed to reporters that Koscielny was taken to hospital with a nasty cut, which he says is “very, very deep” and they’re checking to ensure he hasn’t broken any bones. Arsene told Arsenal.com:

Laurent Kosielny’s [injury] has opened very deeply the skull and we had to take him to hospital. I was not happy with the kick because I feel always that you can ease a bit off. Only the player in the end will know what he did. We are concerned because we had to send him to hospital to see if he has not broken a bone. We are waiting for him to come back now. We are waiting for information to find out if he can fly home with us. We faced a lot of challenges on Saturday and tonight again. That is part of the intensity of the game. Today, of course, there was so much at stake you can understand that. This special challenge, I don’t know really what to think about it. When I saw it, I was angry. But I don’t know if the player can explain to you exactly what he did.

It’s certainly been an unfortunate opening to the season in terms of injures, with Koscielny now the second player to receive a nasty cut to his face after Kieran Gibbs picked up a similar injury on Saturday. Then we’ve had Alex oxlade-Chamberlain and Mikel Arteta ruled out for at least 6 weeks, so our thin squad is certainly being stretched.

Koscielny is already ruled out of Saturday’s trip to Fulham after being sent off against Aston Villa but the injury must make him a huge doubt for the second leg against Fenerbache next week. Obviously if he’s broken any bones he’s set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines, but hopefully it’s not too serious and he’ll be fine to take on Tottenham next Sunday because we’ll certainly need him for that game.

Going into the north London derby with a patched up defence will be a nightmare scenario. Even if we bring in reinforcements beforehand, they’ll need more time to adapt and a NLD is hardly the ideal game to throw a new recruit in to. So fingers crossed we get some good news on Koscielny in the next couple of days.