Fabregas Arsenal season over, hopeful on World Cup

Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas will not play again this season after suffering a small crack in his right fibula during Wednesday’s Champions League draw with Barcelona.

However, the 22-year-old Spanish international is confident that he will be fit for the World Cup which starts on June 11.

An Arsenal statement on Thursday read: “Following a scan this afternoon, the club can confirm that Cesc Fabregas has suffered a small crack in his right fibula as a result of the collision with Barcelona skipper Carles Puyol during Wednesday evening’s match.

“As a consequence, Cesc will miss the remainder of the domestic campaign as he will be out of action for at six weeks. Everyone at the club wishes Cesc a full and speedy recovery.”

Fabregas almost missed out on the 2-2 draw with Barcelona at the Emirates Stadium owing to the severe bruising to his knee and leg he suffered last week at Birmingham.

He came through a fitness test in the warm-up and scored a late penalty to rescue a draw after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had scored twice for Barca and substitute Theo Walcott had pulled a goal back for the Londoners.

Fabregas would have missed the second leg against his old club regardless of his fitness after a first half booking.

He suffered the fibula injury in a collision with Puyol – but he still expects to be fit for the World Cup with Spain when the tournament begins in 10 weeks’ time.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will also have to do without Russian playmaker Andrey Arshavin for up to three weeks after he picked up a calf problem against Barcelona and had to be substituted.

French defender William Gallas, meanwhile, also looks set to be unavailable for the remainder of the domestic campaign after he broke down on his return following eight games out with a calf injury.

Arsenal resume their Premier League title race with the visit of Wolves on Saturday.

With leaders Manchester United hosting Chelsea, the Gunners could close the current gap, which stands at four points, with victory over Mick McCarthy’s relegation battlers.