Alex Hleb and Mathieu Flamini have been ruled out of the trip to
Newcastle on Wednesday.
The Arsenal squad left for Tyneside on Tuesday without FOUR
international midfielders. Cesc Fabregas and Abou Diaby missed the
2-1 win at Aston Villa on Saturday with hamstring and back injuries
respectively. They will not be returning at St James Park.
And during that morale-boosting victory in Birmingham, Hleb
collected a hamstring problem while Flamini fell victim to a
recurrence of his thigh injury. Arsène Wenger will bolster his
midfield by adding Denilson to his squad. He also has options in
Lassana Diarra and Gilberto. However striker Robin Van Persie
(knee) is still a couple of weeks away from a return.
We have lost Alex Hleb and Mathieu Flamini from Saturday at
Villa, Wenger told Arsenal TV Online on Tuesday afternoon. We
have no-one back so that's Diaby, Van Persie, Hleb, Flamini and
Fabregas out for this game.
At one stage we thought it was congested in midfield but now it
looks bare, he joked. But we still have quality players coming in
there. We have Gilberto while Denilson is back after an injury. He
is travelling with us. So we are very confident that we are still
strong in the midfield.
Hleb and Fabregas are unlikely to be back for Arsenals return to
the North-East on Sunday at Middlesbrough however there is more
optimism over the chances of Flamini playing at the Riverside
Stadium.
Even Flamini is out 
