Wenger perturbed by injury pile-up

Manager Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal have been handed the toughest group of this year’s Champions League and will struggle to progress unless their injury situation improves.

The Gunners’ 16th successive season in the group stage kicks off on the French south coast tonight, where familiar foes Marseille lie in wait at the Stade Velodrome.

It is a tough start to what looks set to be an intriguing battle for the knockout stages, with Rafael Benitez’s Napoli and last year’s runners-up Borussia Dortmund the others vying to progress from Group F.