Cech ruled out for up to a month in fresh blow to Arsenal title hopes

Cech ruled out for up to a month in fresh blow to Arsenal title hopes

Petr Cech has been ruled out for up to a month with a calf injury, in a fresh blow to Arsenal’s faltering title hopes.

The Arsenal goalkeeper sustained the injury after running up to the other end of the field in injury-time at the end of the match against Swansea on Wednesday night.

Cech had ventured upfield to try and help score an equaliser but was forced to race back towards his own goal after the ball was cleared.

He damaged a calf muscle in the process and now faces being ruled out until April, missing a large chunk of Arsenal’s Premier League run-in, the second leg of the Champions League last 16 tie against Barcelona and the FA Cup fifth round replay against Hull next week.

Wenger described it as a “serious calf injury” and suggested Cech would be out for “three or four weeks”.

David Ospina – whose form has been criticised by many Arsenal fans – will replace Cech for this weekend’s north London derby against Tottenham and for the rest of Cech’s lay-off.

But Wenger insisted he was unperturbed by the prospect of relying on the Colombian goalkeeper in his side’s most important games of the season. “I have complete confidence in Ospina, I don’t worry about that,” he said.

Wenger also confirmed that Laurent Koscielny will not be fit for the game against Spurs, meaning Per Mertesacker and Gabriel Paulista – who were horribly exposed in the Swansea defeat – will once again form his central defensive partnership.

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