Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla set to miss three months with knee injury

Cazorla injured himself playing against Norwich

Arsenal have been dealt with another huge injury blow after Santi Cazorla has been ruled out for at least three months due to a knee injury. The Spaniard now becomes the 10th Arsenal player to be sidelined due to injury this season.

Previously, the Gunners lost their other two premium central midfielders in Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta. The situation has now become quite a tricky one for manager Arsene Wenger who was confident with the squad he had prior to the start of this Premier League season. Wenger chose not to sign a single outfield player in the transfer window, with Petr Cech being the only addition to the squad.

The diminutive Spaniard limped off during the match against Norwich City after playing the full 90 minutes in spite of injuring himself at the start of the second half. The Gunners managed a 1-1 draw and have failed to win a league game in November.

“The worrying thing was that it got worse,” Wenger said after the game about Cazorla’s injury.

Cazorla is one of the four midfielders in the Premier League this season who has played more than 1600 minutes, with Mesut Ozil, Eden Hazard and Fernandinho being the other three. The 30-year old also became the first player to complete more than 1000 passes in the Premier League this season, and his absence will surely be felt by the Gunners.

The North Londoners also lost Alexis Sanchez and Laurent Koscielny through injuries in the same match. Wenger was adamant on playing the Chilean winger even after admitting that his hamstring is not in the best condition before the match.

The injury crisis at Arsenal now deepens as they are already without Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott, Mikel Arteta, Francis Coquelin, Laurent Koscielny, Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere.

Chile boss Jorge Sampaoli had his say about Sanchez’s situation, he said: "We have contacted the medical team at Arsenal, who gave him a week of treatment in Chile.

"We have to see how it is [the injury] to know how quickly he can recover, but we are aware of everything and we'll see if we can contribute to Alexis getting back on the pitch sooner."

Thierry Henry has his say on injury crisis at Arsenal

Arsenal legend Thierry Henry was also unhappy with the injury crisis at the club and said, “I can feel for Arsene, in a way, you're playing for the title, you're coming here, you need to win; obviously if you ask Alexis Sanchez if he's OK he's going to say 'yes'. If not, if the guy says 'no', then he might as well leave the club, you're there to play.

“But I think you almost don't have to ask him anything if you want to rest him. I personally wouldn't have liked that when I was a player but then you take it on the chin and you see the bigger picture because you want to be out there and play for the whole season.

“He plays for Chile, travels 14 hours there and back, he plays every game but even when the game is won sometimes he will still go and put some pressure on teams. I'm not a coach, I don't know how it is with all the pressure of players – I know I was a pain in the neck when you take me out in the game.

“But I thought at the time, the game was won against Dinamo Zagreb; he scored, he had a good game, he didn't get injured, 20 minutes to go, take him out."