Arsenal injury crisis mounts before Chelsea clash

Arsenal suffered another injury blow ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea after Arsene Wenger revealed teenage left-back Kieran Gibbs has a groin problem.

Gibbs deputised for Gael Clichy in Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg win over Villarreal, but the 19-year-old finished the tie limping and is a doubt for the Cup semi-final.

If Gibbs is sidelined on Saturday, he will join defenders Clichy, William Gallas and Johan Djourou and goalkeeper Manuel Almunia on the sidelines, while Bacary Sagna may also miss out with a virus that forced him to withdraw from the Villarreal match.

“We still have Sagna as a doubt for the weekend. And after Villarreal we have Kieran Gibbs as doubt too. He has a little groin problem. Clichy, Almunia and Djourou are still out,” Wenger said.

“There is the option to play Sagna at left-back if he has recovered. The other is to play (Mikael) Silvestre there and put (Alex) Song at the back.

“There are not many options but we’ll deal with the situation no matter what happens.

“I am happy to take 48 hours more so I can assess the injury situation. Also it means I can look back at how I rotated before and, as well, how we can keep the balance right considering the opponent.

“We have to rotate a little bit because we play every three days now and only the squad can achieve what we want to achieve.”