Gibbs set for spell out

Arsenal full-back Kieran Gibbs has been ruled out for "a few weeks" with the knee injury he sustained against Newcastle on Wednesday night.

Gibbs suffered medial ligament damage in the 4-0 Carling Cup victory at James' Park and will undergo a scan on Friday.

"We lost Kieran Gibbs last night (Wednesday)," Gunners boss Arsene Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. "It's a medial knee ligament strain. It needs to be checked on the scan tomorrow but it will be a few weeks."

The loss of Gibbs was tempered by the news that Aaron Ramsey and Robin van Persie should resume full training by the end of next week.

However, Wenger revealed that Ramsey is further away from a first team return than Van Persie.

"Van Persie and Ramsey are very close to coming back to full training now," said the Frenchman.

"They should be back in the group at the end of next week.

"Of course we should not set the same [recovery] time to Ramsey as Van Persie.

"Aaron will need a longer period to be completely match-fit for the first team. But Van Persie is not far away now."