Arsenal will be without midfielder Aaron Ramsey for a month because of a hamstring injury, with Arsene Wenger admitting he took a risk on his fitness by playing him against Bayern Munich.
The Welshman pulled up during the midweek win over the German champions, with Wenger saying that he perhaps should have been rested for the Watford match - or ideally Wales' game with minnows Andorra.
"He had a scan today but he’s out," Wenger said. "I believe he will be out until after the next international break. With the [last] international break, the fact that he played against Andorra certainly cost Bale and him as well.
"Maybe he was overloaded a little bit with games. Ideally I think not him or Bale should have played against Andorra, because they were qualified. But unfortunately I could not decide that. I was in a position after that where I thought I could rest him against Watford. In the end I didn’t do it and of course after, against Bayern, I had not much choice and we got punished. Ideally he should have had a breather, or at Watford.
"Realistically, the real breather he could have had was against Andorra."
Wenger will welcome back Gabriel Paulista, who has recovered from illness, but David Ospina and Mikel Arteta, who played 10 minutes against Watford after returning from injury, are missing for this game.
Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky remain long-term problems.
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