Arsenal have suffered a mammoth blow ahead of the must-win Champions League tie against Porto on Tuesday after star man Cesc Fabregas was ruled out of the game.
The Gunners trail Porto 2-1 from a controversial first leg in Portugal three weeks ago and now, as they look to overturn that deficit, their jewel in the crown Fabregas has been officially declared unavailable for the game with a hamstring problem picked up in the weekend win over Burnley.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger had previously said that he would be prepared to gamble on the fitness of Fabregas if there was a better than fifty percent chance that his hamstring would not fail the test. However, that hope has now been lost with Wenger saying on Monday: "We cannot even take a gamble, so he is not available."
Defender Sol Campbell did, however, train on Monday. Campbell scored Arsenal's goal in the first leg against Jesualdo Ferreria's men and he now looks set to recover from a groin problem in time to face them once again.