Arsene Wenger will be without the servies of Robin van Persie
Arsenal will lose van Persie for at least three weeks Reuters

Bad news keeps pouring in for Arsene Wenger.

The Arsenal manager will be without Robin van Persie for three weeks after the striker injured his knee against Birmingham City in the losing effort in the Carling Cup Final, adding injury to insult.

Arsenal travel to Barcelona to face the Catalans on March 8, and without their Dutch star, the task becomes more difficult.

Van Persie had been on a recent hot streak. He scored the goal against Birmingham, and also scored in the first leg of the Champions League match against Barcelona.

Without Theo Walcott, Thomas Vermaelan, Lukasz Fabianski, and now van Persie, Arsenal's chances look dim against the Catalans next week, and the outlook to overtake Manchester United in the Premier League standings don't appear too rosy either.

Without van Persie and Walcott, a heavy burden will now be placed on Danish forward Nicklas Bendtner.