Van Persie blow sparks Arsenal striker crisis

Manager Arsene Wenger had already made a new striker a priority, but Van Persie is likely to be out for another three weeks with a knee injury, making the recruitment of a support striker more pressing.

Theo Walcott is considered too raw to start up front in big games, so Wenger is down to Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicolas Bendtner, although he was cheered by Eduardo's performance against Everton after a hit and miss start to his Arsenal career.

Kolo Toure is leaving to play in the African Nations' Cup in Ghana, as is Ivory Coast team-mate Emmanuel Eboue.

Wenger would like to add a centre-half to his squad but is yet to identify a target and will resist Portsmouth bids for midfielder Lassana Diarra.

Arsenal will not sign a direct replacement for Jens Lehman if he moves back to Germany to secure his place at Euro 2008. Coach Joachim Low says he must play regularly to be considered his No 1, but Lehmann is loathe to take his children out of school.

Lucasz Fabianski is good enough to step up to the Arsenal first team but they might still sign a third-choice goalkeeper in Barnsley's Heinz Muller.