Arsenal fear Danny Welbeck will be out for at least 4 weeks with groin injury

Arsenal fear Danny Welbeck is facing another lengthy spell on the sidelines after suffering a groin injury during the Gunners' 0-0 draw against Chelsea on Sunday (17 September).

The striker has made a fine start to the campaign and is Arsenal's top scorer in the Premier League with three goals from five games. Welbeck has started all five of the club's league games thus far and his absence in the coming weeks will be a big blow to Arsene Wenger.

The 26-year-old has been plagued by injuries in recent campaigns and only returned from a long-term knee injury at the back end of last season. It was his second knee injury since joining Arsenal in 2014 which has restricted him to just 27 league appearances in the last two campaigns.

According to the Daily Mail, the initial diagnosis is that he will miss four weeks of action with a groin injury, but is expected to have another scan on Tuesday (19 September) to reveal the true extent of the injury. Wenger has a number of options in attack and will not rush the striker back to action and will allow him the required amount of time to recover and get back to full fitness.

Apart from missing the upcoming Arsenal games in the Carabao Cup, Premier League and Europa League, the former Manchester United forward is also expected to be ruled out for England's upcoming World Cup qualifying clashes against Slovenia and Lithuania on the 5 & 8 October respectively.

Welbeck made his long-awaited return to the Three Lions squad for their recent qualifying games against Malta and Slovakia and even scored during their win against the former. Gareth Southgate considers the Arsenal forward a key member of his squad and was delighted to see him back in action for his country, but will now have to make do without him for their final games as they look to book a place in next summer's showpiece event.