Laurent Koscielny injury blow confirmed after Arsenal draw with Manchester City

Arsenal star Laurent Koscielny could be ready for a spell on the sidelines after suffering an Achilles injury during the 2-2 draw against Manchester City. However, Arsene Wenger expects both Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to be ready to return to action when West Ham visit the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.

Koscielny was forced off and replaced by Gabriel Paulista at half-time during the game on Sunday (2 April) against City after picking up an injury. Ramsey and Oxlade-Chamberlain had failed to even make the squad with calf and hamstring problems respectively.

Wenger confirmed after the game that he did not know how severe Koscielny's injury was. He was positive, however, about having his two midfielders back for the midweek derby against West Ham.

"I don't know how long Koscielny will be out for. He came off at half-time with an Achilles problem. How long will that last? I don't know," Wenger told a press conference following the game.

Wenger hailed his player for passing a "mental test" against Pep Guardiola's side as Arsenal fought back from behind twice to secure a point at the Emirates Stadium.

"Overall, we started with quite a high level of anxiety. We were punished straight away, so it was a mental test. You could see that the team were touched on the confidence front and that the fluency in our game suffered," Wenger admitted.

"We have shown great mental resources because we went a goal down twice and once at the worst moment in a game - just before half-time. On top of that, we lost Koscielny at half-time.

"In the second half we came back to 2-2 so it will help us to rebuild confidence because we have certainly shown some mental strength. That will help us to come back to our natural fluency.

"Mathematically, for both teams, it's not the best operation."

Yet, the draw leaves the Gunners sixth in the Premier League, seven points behind fourth-place City but with a game in hand.

Arsenal still has 10 games to reach the top four but Wenger admitted that qualification for the Champions League was now uncertain.

"If you look at yesterday's results, it's very difficult to predict what will happen in the last 10 games," the Arsenal boss said.

"What we want is to come back to win our games. How many do we need to win to finish in the top four? I don't know."