Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger condemns 'absolutely scandalous' Chelsea goal

Hector Bellerin, who sustained a head injury while attempting to stop Marcos Alonso's opener, has not trained this week

Hector Bellerin had to be substituted after taking a blow to the head against Chelsea (Getty)

Hector Bellerin has not trained since his head injury in what Arsene Wenger described as the “absolutely scandalous” first goal in Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday, and will have his fitness assessed on Friday for weekend home with Hull City.

The Spanish full-back felt the full force of a Marcos Alonso elbow to the head, as he jumped to try and defend Chelsea’s opening goal. He immediately went off injured having looked dazed, and Wenger said he has not trained since.

“We have the question about Hector Bellerin. He’s going for tests and the process every day and we’ll only know tomorrow if he gets the green light from the medical people to practise or not. At the moment he has not practised.”

Wenger was much stronger about the nature of the moment that led to that injury than on Saturday, but admitted Arsenal only had themselves to blame for the Chelsea goals thereafter.

“I’m always surprised when we lose a game because I expect to win it before the game starts. We were also a bit unlucky because the first goal was absolutely scandalous. That changed the game as well because we started quite well, but from that point onwards it put Chelsea in a position that they are very good at.

“They defend very well and they are very quick on the break. When you look at how the second goal happened, I think we can only look at ourselves, and for the third goal as well. Overall it was a very even game on goal chances. The regret I have is that we didn’t make enough of the chances we created.”

Wenger does have Mohamed Elneny returning to the team this week, returning from the African Cup of Nations after the Egyptian national team’s 2-1 defeat to Cameroon in the final.

“He trained yesterday with the team,” Wenger said of the midfielder.

“He’s fully focused and as always, a fantastic player with a great mentality. He is of course disappointed that they lost in the final but we had a quality session yesterday.”