ARTETA SWEATS ON LACAZETTE INJURY

ALEXANDRE LACAZETTE is set for a scan tomorrow to determine the severity of a hamstring injury that threatens to rule him out of the Europa League semifinal against Villarreal. Arsenal were pushing for a leveller against Fulham when Lacazette pulled up in pain, clutched the back of his left leg and hobbled down the tunnel in despair with his shirt pulled up over his face. ‘We will have to see,’ said manager Mikel Arteta. ‘He felt his hamstring. He will have a scan on Tuesday and we will see the length of time he will be out. We can’t tell if he is going to be one or five weeks.’ Arsenal are still without captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who contracted malaria while on international duty with Gabon. Defenders David Luiz and Kieran Tierney are also injured. They made changes after the win at Slavia Prague last Thursday but decided to continue with Lacazette up front because the Frenchman was in such good form, scoring six goals in his previous seven games. ‘When you rest them you’re asked why you rest them,’ said Arteta. ‘Laca felt good and still got injured.’ Lacazette was forced off in the 70th minute and it was his replacement Eddie Nketiah who bundled in Arsenal’s equaliser in the seventh minute of stoppage time. ‘Eddie always offers his best,’ said Arteta. ‘He scored a goal today and is always a threat.’ Arsenal are languishing in ninth place, a daunting nine points behind West Ham in fourth with only six games to play in the Premier League. They next face Everton at home on Friday. Fulham, who took the lead from a Josh Maja penalty in the 59th minute, disputed the late Nketiah equaliser and claimed Rob Holding was offside in the build-up. But Arteta insisted it was his side who were hard done by. ‘We deserved to win it,’ said Arteta. ‘With the chances we created and two goals disallowed. We conceded only the one shot on target.’

Unwatchable: Lacazette can’t look as he joins Arsenal’s injury list