Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits that the injuries to Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are a 'big blow' to his squad.

Both players were forced to come off with muscular injuries in the first half of the disappointing 3-0 defeat against Sheffield Wednesday last night.

"We lost two important players in the first part of the game," Wenger told Sky Sports following the game.

"We are short now. It was a big blow for us tonight, but even more for the other competitions which are important for us, to lose players of that stature."

"The injuries are two muscular injuries, how big the damage is I don't know. We have to make scans and we have to wait 48 hours for the scan. It's was a bad night at the office for us. We lost the two players and after that we were not good enough.

"I have to manage the workload of the players and at the end of the day I still think I maybe brought too many experienced players here.

"We lost two players and after that I had Gabriel [Paulista] and [Nacho] Monreal on the bench but I couldn't bring them on because I couldn't afford to lose any more players."