Arsenal squad vs Cardiff City revealed

[PHOTO: COURTESY]

Unai Emery is facing something of a defensive crisis ahead of Arsenal's Premier League clash with Cardiff City on Tuesday.

The Gunners are without Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding for the remainder of the season while Sokratis Papastathopoulos is out for up to a month with an ankle problem suffered in Arsenal's 3-1 defeat by Manchester United in the FA Cup on Friday.

French centre-back Laurent Koscielny is also likely to miss out after picking up an injury in the same game.

The 33-year-old defender challenged Red Devils striker Romelu Lukaku for the ball but came off second best and was stepped on when the Belgian moved backwards.

There were initial fears that Koscielny had suffered a broken jaw, but fortunately for the defender his face is just severely bruised.

His injury is now being monitored daily, but he is very unlikely to feature against the relegation-threatened Bluebirds.

Danny Welbeck (ankle) is another long-term absentee for the Gunners, while Henrikh Mkhitaryan (ankle) is now back in training.

Provisional squad: Leno, Cech, Martinez, Jenkinson, Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Kolasinac, Monreal, Maitland-Niles, Xhaka, Elneny, Torreira, Guendouzi, Ramsey, Iwobi, Ozil, Lacazette, Aubameyang, Nketiah.