Arsene Wenger has confirmed Cesc Fabregas suffered medial knee ligament damage during Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool, but the Arsenal boss does not know how long his skipper will be sidelined for.
Fabregas was subbed at half time after coming off worse in a 50/50 challenge with Xabi Alonso, and Wenger confirmed medial ligament damage, meaning his skipper is likely to miss the Christmas period.
“It is a medial knee ligament problem. I don’t know [how long he will be out], it is difficult to assess,” Wenger told the club’s official website.
“Of course it is a blow, you don’t want to lose a player like that but we have to cope with it.”
Fabregas added to Radio Marca: "I have negative thoughts about the injury. We will wait for the medical tests on Monday."
Turning his attention to Emmanuel Adebayor’s red card, received for two similar challenges, Wenger accused referees of treating Arsenal with different rules.
“It was very soft. Today was Be A Gooner, Be A Giver, but you cannot say the referee was a Gooner, he was a giver, giving yellow cards that we didn’t deserve.
“Every week when we play away from home, we are told people get in our faces and we can’t cope. I should show you our players after some games we play away from home; it is a joke. Neither of the bookings were justified.
“It is just an unbelievable decision; if Adebayor goes off, then [Robbie] Keane has to go off in the first minute. It seems we have different rules. The decision cost us two points today, and I do not agree with it all.”
As for Liverpool’s inability to kill the game off when Arsenal went down to 10 men, Wenger revealed he saw one or two of Rafa Benitez’s team struggling with cramp.
Wenger’s own men had to run themselves into the ground, yet there was no sign of substitute Carlos Vela – a man linked to a loan move away from Arsenal. The Gunners have also been linked to Carlos Tevez and Andrei Arshavin, but Wenger’s response was blunt:
“No, no, and no.”