ARSENAL were struck a big blow against Sporting Lisbon as two defenders were forced off injured in the first-half.
Takehiro Tomiyasu had to be brought off after appearing to overstretch in a tackle, with Ben White taking his place.
Things then went from bad to worse for Mikel Arteta as star centre-back William Saliba had to be substituted.
Rob Holding took his place but Arsenal fans are concerned the injuries could derail their title bid.
They took to Twitter to voice their worries with one Gooner saying: “Saliba and Tomiyasu getting injured in first 20min is really scary for Arsenal’s title hopes.”
Another added: “Too many injuries man. Tomiyasu I’m okay with but Saliba is title challenge ending if bad.”
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A third said: “Might be able to survive Palace on Sunday without Saliba and Tomiyasu, but if they’re both out beyond that, the title is done with. Can’t win the league with Rob Holding at centre-back.”
Some Arsenal fans bemoaned Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag and accused him of “bewitching” their side following his comments about the Gunners’ lack of injuries.
One supporter tweeted: “What’s going on? Saliba and Tomiyasu off injured? Ten Hag bewitching us man.”
Another said: “Tomiyasu injured. Saliba injured. Only a day after Ten Hag mentioned us regarding our squad fitness. Ten Hag is a witch!”
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Ahead of United’s visit to Real Betis Ten Hag had compared his side’s injury record to Arsenal, revealing he has only had a fully fit squad once this season.
He said: “Man City home [2-1 victory in January], it was the only time this season [that United had a fully fit squad], in other times, every time, every game is a player suspended, injured, illness. So we have to deal with it well, of course, you hope.
“I see Arsenal, they almost have all the time a squad that is totally available.”
Arsenal’s miserable night was compounded by their penalty shoot-out defeat to Sporting, with Gabriel Martinelli missing the decisive spot-kick that allowed their opponents to progress.
And Arteta was frustrated by having to throw his gameplan out the window so early in the game.
He said: “That happens. It happened with Tommy and Saliba and then we were really restricted to do the changes because we only had one window to do them and only one sub left.
“We had to accommodate that and the team got better and better with the changes, especially in the last 15 minutes of the normal time and then we had big chances to finish it off but we didn’t do it.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
