Francis Coquelin is facing a number of weeks on the sidelines after Arsene Wenger confirmed that the midfielder has indeed done his hamstring.

Asked how long the midfielder would be out for, Arsene Wenger told the media after Arsenal’s 3-3 at Bournemouth on Tuesday night, “Coquelin has a hamstring.

“It’s too early, you have to wait 48 hours for a scan to see.

“Usually when he sits down and comes off it’s not so good news. If it’s just a tightness, the player tries to get on but he didn’t even try to play again.”

Of course, not everyone is devastated at the loss of Coquelin for a variety of reasons, mainly because they believe we are better without him than with, but the fact remains Arsenal now only have two fit central midfielders available and that is just asking for trouble.

The length of time out will depend on the grade of Coquelin’s hamstring tear.

We should know more on Thursday.

Hamstring grades:

1 Tightness and awareness of some hamstring discomfort but no difficulty walking.

A grade 1 tear will impact your ability to run at full speed and could produce some swelling of the muscle. It will also be tender when palpated.

This type of injury can usually be recovered from in a matter of days.

2 This will produce a limp and sudden twinges of pain during ‘activity’ will occur.

Like a grade 1, the muscle will be swollen and tender when palpated but it is also likely to produce pain when the knee is bent.

This is the type of hamstring injury most fans think of when they hear of the problem and generally results in a 2-4 week layoff.

3 Moving into ‘severe’ territory, a grade 3 hamstring tear means that half or all of the muscle has been torn.

Needing crutches to move around, a player will be sidelined for months rather than weeks with a grade 3.

Swelling is immediate and bruising appears within 24 hours.

Given what Wenger said about Coquelin’s injury, results are likely to show that it’s a Grade 2.

Watching the moment Coquelin was taken off, there was a limp to his gait as he left the pitch but absolutely nothing to suggest that he had ventured into Grade 3 territory.