Report: Arsenal fears Welbeck will miss a month with groin issue

If Danny Welbeck didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all.

Arsenal's oft-injured forward sustained a groin problem in Sunday's goalless draw against Chelsea, and Matt Law of the Telegraph reports that the club is fearful the rangy 26-year-old will be sidelined for at least a month.

"He has a groin problem," Arsene Wenger said after the match. "I don't know how severe it is but it looks like a 'good' groin problem, not an easy one."

The injury threatens to derail Welbeck's superb start to the young campaign; the versatile Englishman, whose explosiveness was an important feature of Arsenal's attack, has bagged three goals and an assist so far this season.

He's slated to undergo another scan on Tuesday that will provide a definitive timeline for his recovery.

If the issue proves severe, it will signal another lengthy absence for a player whose career has been riddled by ailments. Welbeck spent the majority of the 2016-17 season sidelined, missing eight months after damaging cartilage in his right knee. That injury, which required surgery, followed a nine-and-a-half month absence stemming from a left knee problem.

Bitterly disappointed as he will be to lose Welbeck, Wenger has plenty of options. Alexis Sanchez, who started Sunday's match at Stamford Bridge on the bench, and Mesut Ozil, who missed out due to injury, will be the leading candidates to assume the slots behind the striker - presumably Alexandre Lacazette - in Arsenal's 3-4-2-1 formation.

Wenger can also call upon the likes of Alex Iwobi and Theo Walcott, while Olivier Giroud gives the French manager the option to get creative with his tactical choices - something he's been open to, for better or worse, going back to the latter stages of last season.