Arsene Wenger confirms Alex Oxlade Chamberlain injury following Arsenal win over Lincoln

Arsenal were hit by a further blow during the 5-0 win over Lincoln City after midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a hamstring injury during the FA Cup quarter-final at The Emirates Stadium. Goalkeeper David Ospina missed the tie after picking up a minor groin injury in the preparations of the game.

The Gunners secured a comfortable victory over the non-league side thanks to goals from Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud, The Imps' Luke Waterfall, Alexis Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey. But the win came at a price for as Oxlade-Chamberlain was forced off and replaced by Mesut Ozil in the 27<sup>th minute of the game.

"Hamstring. I don't know [how serious], we have to assess it. It didn't look a big one," Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger confirmed in the post-match press conference.

The news represents the second injury blow to emerge from the otherwise routine win over Lincoln, after Arsenal lost 'keeper Ospina due to a groin injury.

Peter Cech, often omitted for domestic and European cup games, was recalled to help Arsenal reach the last four. The National League side enjoyed an impressive first-half but Walcott's opener on the stroke of half-time broke the deadlock and help ease the memories of the humiliating defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

"We were a bit nervous because your confidence drops when you don't have the results," admitted Wenger. "The team was unjustifiably criticised for our last game against Bayern Munich because we had an outstanding game. The game was killed not by the fault of the players but we have to take a distance with us and have a look at a bigger perspective than people want to do.

"Overall we had to respond today and that's what we did. We had an outstanding game against Bayern Munich but our game was killed by the referee. I watched this game three times now and it's still the referee who killed our game."