Flamini: Injuries no excuse for Arsenal form

Mathieu Flamini has warned Arsenal’s mounting injury worries are no excuse for poor form from the rest of the team.

Arsene Wenger is currently without a host of first-team players, including Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy and Laurent Koscielny.

The London club required a last-minute equaliser from Danny Welbeck to snatch a 2-2 draw from Hull City on Saturday, with a makeshift defence struggling against Steve Bruce’s side.

Arsenal have won just two of their opening eight league games, with five draws stunting their progress.

But Flamini does not accept the notion that having a number of stellar names in the treatment room gives Arsenal any excuse to slack off as they look to reach the top four again.

“We’re having injuries but we don’t want to hide behind any excuses,” the midfielder said.

“We’re facing the truth – we didn’t win on Saturday and we’ll try to find a solution for the next games.”

Arsenal travel to Anderlecht on Wednesday with more selection dilemmas, this time in goal.

First choice Wojciech Szczesny is suspended while back-up David Ospina is injured, meaning Argentine youngster Emiliano Martinez is likely to start in Belgium.