Arsenal facing defensive injury crisis against Chelsea in FA Cup final

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Arsenal are set to be without a trio of centre-backs for the FA Cup final against Chelsea on Saturday evening.

Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari and Shkodran Mustafi are all likely to miss the London derby at Wembley.


All three were absent as Arsenal beat Watford 3-2 on Sunday to finish eighth in the Premier League. The Gunners looked shaky at the back and boss Mikel Arteta is struggling for defensive cover.

Mikel expects Mustafi to be a long-term absentee and said they will have to look to strengthen for next season.

“It looks a really nasty injury again,” the Gunners boss said at his post-match press conference, referring to Mustafi.

“We have lost Calum Chambers the week after I arrived here, we lost Pablo as well for three months.

“Now we’ve lost Musti so at the back we’re really short. Musti has been playing really consistently and at a really good level with me.

“He pulled the tendon off the bone in his hamstring and that’s normally a lot of weeks.

“I already mentioned three central defenders that are not available and we haven’t had them available for a long time during the season. And we will have to address that.”