Arsenal is set to be without captain Cesc Fàbregas for Wednesday's Champions League match in Donetsk, according to the BBC. The star midfielder has aggravated the hamstring that kept him out of the team between mid-September and mid-October. Although manager Arsene Wenger says the injury is not serious, he has decided not to risk Fàbregas in the fourth round of Champions League group play.
Hamstring Injury To Keep Cesc Fabregas Out Of Arsenal’s Champions League Trip To Shakhtar Donetsk
... Gunners manager Arsene Wenger said the injury is not serious and hopes Fabregas will face Newcastle on Sunday.
Wenger said: “There’s no real strain, it’s just a little bit of pain, but we can’t take a gamble because he’s had injuries before in his hamstring.”
Arsenal is one of five teams with a perfect record through group play’s first three rounds, with their 5-1 win over Shakhtar on October 19th giving them a three point cushion atop the group. That match marked Fàbregas’s return from a month-long absence. The Spanish international marked his return with a 59th minute goal and has since appear in each of the Gunners’ matches.
This will be the second Champions League match Fàbregas has missed this season. His other absence came on September 28th when Arsenal visited Partizan. The Gunners got second half goals from Marouane Chamakh and Sebastien Squillaci to post a 1-3 win over a Partizan side that played that last half hour with 10 men.
In the Champions League two matches in which he has appeared, Fàbregas has scored three goals. In Premier League play, Fàbregas has one goal in six matches.
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