Arsene Wenger confirmed today that Gabriel will miss the Cup Final this weekend with a knee injury picked up against Everton on Sunday. Not only that, but he won’t now be back until August, Wenger confirming he is out for 6-8 weeks this morning.

With Laurent Koscielny also missing through (a very unnecessary) suspension due to his (pointless) red card on Sunday, also against Everton, we now find ourselves looking very short at the back for a game against the Premier League champions (not Spurs).

Well the good news is Shkodran Mustafi is fit and well, and raring to g— wait, what? It seems Mustafi is also a major doubt with worries over a bout of concussion, and he may not make the game, he hasn’t trained for a while, so it’s really not looking good.

Wenger said:

“Gabriel is out for six to eight weeks, we had a scare about his cruciate but it’s medial. He avoids surgery. Shkodran Mustafi, we have some worries, because he is still sick at the moment. He has not trained yet, unbelievable and unpredictable and we are hit hard in a position where we need to be strong on Saturday. We have to find solutions and hopefully I can find those solutions…”

In better news, its thought the Ox could return for the game, and we also have Per Mertesacker back, and of course Rob Holding, so we’re not quite out of options just yet, for a game which could still be Arsene Wenger’s last in charge of The Arsenal.

Predicted line up:

Ospina
Ox | Holding | Mustafi/Per | Monreal | Gibbs
Ramsey | Xhaka
Welbeck | Sanchez | Ozil

Score: 3-1 to the Arsenal you know it makes sense.