Manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed that goalkeeper Petr Cech will be out for around 3 to 4 weeks.
This rules him out of the season at a crucial time, while he will also miss the second leg of the Champions League game against Barcelona. The former Chelsea goalkeeper suffered a calf injury in the 2-1 loss against Swansea. He is expected to be unavailable for the FA Cup replay against Hull City as well. Wenger learnt about the long-term nature about the injury after the loss. He even went on to claim that the injury to Cech had a major dent in the confidence of players.
Despite taking the lead through Joe Campbell in the 15th minute, Arsenal conceded goals either side of the half-time break to suffer a defeat. This does not bode well for the upcoming North London derby against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Tottenham are real title contenders now and the club have a chance to heap more misery on Arsenal in front of their own supporters. Arsenal’s third consecutive loss means that they are slowly slipping away from a potential title. It remains to be seen if the club can recover from this huge setback.
Following the loss against Swansea, Wenger refused to discuss about the team’s title challenge.“At the moment we don’t dream; we are realistic. We have to come back to positive results before we speak about championships. It’s very unpredictable. Tottenham lost tonight, Manchester City lost tonight. Everybody drops points.We will not talk about titles tonight. I’m not in the mood. It’s a big disappointment. We have to swallow that and bounce back. The players are very down. We have to respond. Was it a confidence issue? It looks a bit like that, yes,” said the Frenchman. Cech has been impressive for Arsenal since his summer move to Chelsea.