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Arsenal injury news: Gunners have five missing for crucial Barcelona clash

Cech, Ozil and Ramsey will return

Tom Sheen
Monday 22 February 2016 17:04 GMT
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Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey and Petr Cech are among those who will return when Arsenal face Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday but Arsene Wenger is still missing five players.

Gabriel Paulista, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky will all miss the match, but "everybody else is available", confirmed Wenger at his pre-match press conference.

Gabriel is expected back in action before the end of the month after picking up a hamstring injury in the win over Borunemouth on 7 February. Jack Wilshere and Santi Cazorla are both expected to be out for around another month, while there is no set return date, at the moment, for Rosicky and Arteta.

​Ozil, Ramsey and Cech were all rested by Wenger on Saturday when Arsenal were held goalless at the Emirates by Championship leaders Hull City.

The trio are expected to play against the defending Champions, who are unbeaten in all competitions since losing 2-1 at Sevilla on 3 October.

Luis Enrique's team will be missing two players, with Rafinha injured and Arda Turan suspended for the first leg.

Wenger said it's "more difficult" to prepare to face Hull than it will be for Barcelona.

"It's more difficult to prepare against Hull than against Barcelona," said the Frenchman.

"Because against Barcelona everybody is focused, naturally, so it's more to create belief and confidence - because Barcelona is super-favorite in this game. Against Hull, it's more to raise the urgency level.

"Tomorrow, everybody's convinced that we need absolutely to be as a whole squad totally focused, to have a chance... No team is perfect, (though) they are not far from it, Barcelona, I must say. We have to use every moment in the game where we have a chance to score."

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