Arsenal, Djourou doubtful for Villarreal

Arsenal defender Johan Djourou is doubtful for the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg on 15 April against Villarreal after damaging his knee playing in the 4-1 win over Wigan Athletic on 11 April. The loss of the 22-year-old central defender is a blow Arsenal could have done without as they will also be missing defender William Gallas, injured in last week’s 1-1 first leg draw in Spain.

“Johan Djourou has a knee problem and that’s the bad news of the day. It looks as though he’ll be out for Wednesday,” Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “We lost two central defenders in two games. We have a few more games to go and we haven’t got enough of them to lose one every game.”

Mikael Silvestre, back to full fitness after not starting a league game for Arsenal since December, replaced Djourou after 35 minutes and is likely to play on Wednesday.