Arsenal lose Sagna, but welcome back Fabregas and Walcott
Published:Bacary Sagna has been ruled out of Arsenal’s next two games after picking up an injury in their defeat against Chelsea.
Sagna has not been able to join up with his France team mates for their games with Romania and Luxembourg, and is likely to miss Arsenal’s game against Birmingham on Saturday and their Champions League meeting with Shaktar Donetsk next Tuesday.
Sagna’s spot at right back is most likely to be filled by Emmanuel Eboue, the man he displaced when he arrived from Auxerre in 2007.
More encouraging news for the Gunners is the return to fitness of captain and key figure Cesc Fabregas.
Fabregas hasn’t figured for Arsenal since their draw with Sunderland on September 18th, but he’s in line to start against Birmingham after shaking off a hamstring injury that has kept him out of Arsenal’s last four games and the Spanish squad.
Also fit again for the Gunners is Theo Walcott, who’s been out since he suffered an ankle injury while playing for England against Switzerland.
Arsenal are 2/9 to beat Birmingham and will be very keen to get back to winning ways after suffering successive Premier League defeats before the international break.
They will need to do so if they’re going to keep pace with Chelsea in the hunt for the Premiership title – they are 11/1 to win the Premier League.
Birmingham will not be hoping for much when they journey to the Emirates, they’ve only won once all season and that was back in August.
Having surprised everyone by finishing ninth last season, they’ve now lost their unbeaten home record that had lasted a full year and, with odds of 9/1 to beat Arsenal, will not be confident they can match rivals West Brom and win at the Emirates.
Arsenal are 11/1 to win the Premier League. See the full Barclays Premier League Football betting odds market here.
