Arsenal injury: Francis Coquelin out for 'at least two months' with knee ligament damage as Aaron Ramsey returns

Wenger will confirm the extent of Coquelin and Mikel Arteta's injuries later today

(2015 Getty Images)

Arsenal face the prospect of losing Francis Coquelin for several months after the defensive midfielder suffered knee ligament damage in the 2-1 defeat by West Bromwich Albion, adding to their concerning injury crisis in a pivotal week for the club.

The Gunners could crash out of the Champions League in Tuesday if they fail to beat Dinamo Zagreb or results elsewhere in the group go against them, and they need to get back to winning ways in the Premier League next weekend when they take on Norwich if they are to keep pace with the Premier League leaders.

However, they will do so without the services of 24-year-old Coquelin, after he limped out of Saturday’s defeat early in the first-half. Coquelin will have a scan on the injury later today, and manager Arsene Wenger confirmed that he Coquelin will miss "at least two months" when he addressed the media this afternoon, adding that it could be more but he "does not want to speculate" until he has seen the results of the scan.

To make matters worse, his replacement, Mikel Arteta, also picked up an injury during the match at the Hawthorns and was forced off just 35 minutes after entering the affray. In that time he managed to concede a free-kick that led to James Morrison’s equaliser, and netted the unfortunate own-goal that gave the Baggies their victory.

It’s believed that Coquelin’s scans have revealed extensive ligament damage and he is expected to be ruled out for the remainder of 2015, joining Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky on the long-term casualties list.

Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott will not feature in Europe this week although the pair are nearing a return to action, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury and could be out until Christmas.

Although Coquelin has established himself as one of the first names on the team-sheet since returning from a loan spell with Charlton in late 2014, Wenger was urged to sign another defensive midfielder to give Coquelin competition and cover should he suffer an injury.

Wenger resisted though, despite long-term target Morgan Scheniderlin joining Manchester United in a £25m deal and World Cup winner Sami Khedira leaving Real Madrid for Juventus on a free transfer.

There was some good news for the Gunners on Monday morning though, as Aaron Ramsey returned to training having recovered from the injury he picked up in the first clash with Bayern Munich last month.