Adebayor injury blow hits Arsenal

Arsenal striker Emmanuel Adebayor has been ruled out of action for three weeks with a hamstring injury suffered in Sunday's 0-0 draw with Tottenham.

The 24-year-old was stretchered off after pulling up in the 35th minute of the north London derby.

Adebayor will now miss league games against Sunderland and Fulham, the FA Cup replay with Cardiff and the Champions League game with Roma.

New signing Andrey Arshavin or the fit-again Eduardo could replace Adebayor.

Russia international Arshavin, 27, joined from Zenit St. Petersburg on Monday but has not played a competitive match in two months.

Croatian striker Eduardo returned to the squad for the first time since breaking his leg almost a year ago, while young Mexican forward Carlos Vela has struggled to force his way into the first team.

But Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who replaced the Togolese with Nicklas Bendtner at White Hart Lane, is confident his forwards can fill the void.

"Adebayor is out for three weeks with a hamstring," Wenger said.

"We have Carlos Vela, we have Nicklas Bendtner, we have Eduardo we have Andrey Arshavin and we have Robin van Persie. We have plenty of strikers.

Adebayor has already missed a month of the season through injury after damaging his knee at Stoke at the beginning of November.