The plot is thickening down at the Emirates – and it’s not looking good for fantasy managers. Wenger has announced today that he has now lost Diaby for the rest of the season after he ruptured a tendon in his thigh in a reserve outing on Monday. He joins the suspended Hleb on the sidelines [source]. Worse still, Wenger has hinted at a rotation policy for those players involved in Euro 2008.

“Sagna and Flamini are not back so basically it will be the same squad as last week,” confirmed Wenger today in his pre-match press conference for the Derby game. That at least confirms the fitness of Toure at the back, while Almunia has also recovered from his thumb injury. However, Wenger has previously hinted here that he could hand Fabianski a start in goal for the remaining games.

“Almunia is available again but I have not decided what I will do with the goalkeepers yet.”

Thanks for that Arsene. To make matters worse, Wenger has also hinted that he is mulling over the idea of resting his players that are involved in Euro 2008 for part of the final three games.

“Maybe I’ll have to give the players who go to the European Championships a little breather before they go.”

That would cast a cloud of rest and rotation over the likes of Gallas, Senderos, Clichy, Bendtner, Van Persie, Flamini and…gulp…Fabregas.