Arsenal midfielder Coquelin out for three months

LONDON (Reuters) – Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin will be sidelined for three months with a knee injury, manager Arsene Wenger said on Tuesday.

Coquelin was injured in the Premier League defeat by West Bromwich Albion on Saturday and his replacement Mikel Arteta also came off after 35 minutes of that match with a calf strain.

“It is what we feared basically,” Wenger said of Coquelin after a 3-0 home victory over Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday kept alive Arsenal’s hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stages for the 16th successive year.

“It means it will be, let’s be realistic — a medial knee ligament — 12 weeks,” he told reporters, having initially estimated the French midfielder would be out for two months.

Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck, Tomas Rosicky and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have also been out injured, though Wenger said earlier this week that the latter could be in contention this weekend at Norwich City in the Premier League.

Aaron Ramsey did return as a second half substitute against Zagreb in his first appearance since the 2-0 win against Bayern Munich on Oct. 20.

(Writing by Ken Ferris; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)