Arsenal sweating on Laurent Koscielny injury as Arsene Wenger reveals he will have a scan on Friday

Koscielny limped out of Arsenal's 5-1 defeat by Bayern Munich on Wednesday

Laurent Koscielny will have a scan on Friday to determine how bad his hamstring injury is (Getty)

Laurent Koscielny faces a scan on Friday to determine the extent of the hamstring injury that forced him to limp off during Arsenal’s 5-1 Champions League thrashing by Bayern Munich on Wednesday, with the captain unlikely to play against Sutton United in Monday night’s FA Cup fifth round tie.

Wenger faced a number of questions on his own future during his Friday press conference, but he started by dissecting the loss in Munich and admitting he does not know yet how badly Koscielny is injured.

The loss of the Frenchman triggered an alarming collapse by Arsenal, with the Gunners shipping four second half goals to leave them on the brink of a seventh consecutive last-16 exit unless they can turn the tie on its head in the second leg on 7 March.

Speaking ahead of Monday’s FA Cup trip to Gander Green Lane, Wenger said: "Koscielny has a scan today. It will be a normal team."

Koscielny’s absence is likely to see Gabriel Paulista step in to defence, although Per Mertesacker could make his first start of the season if Wenger feels he is ready to return after suffering a long-term knee injury during pre-season.

Wenger is ready to make changes for Monday’s encounter, but his insistence that it will be a “normal team” implies he will resist widespread changes despite Wednesday’s demoralising defeat.

He did suggest that both academy products Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Jeff Reine-Adelaide could feature, while the likes of Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Mohamed Elneny can expect to come into the starting line-up after being named on the substitutes’ bench for the Bayern defeat – the latter after returning last weekend from the African Cup of Nations where he helped Egypt to the final.

Both Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey remain unavailable through injury, with the former still a doubt to return this season as he continues to rehabilitate his ankle after undergoing surgery on an Achilles injury he suffered in October last year.