Nicklas Bendtner has declared himself as a doubt for Arsenal’s Premier League trip to Birmingham this weekend according to reports today.

The Danish striker suffered an ankle injury in the 2-0 win over West Ham at the weekend although the injury wasn’t apparent at the time. Bendtner however claims that he felt at the time that the injury would prevent him from finishing the game…

“At half-time [against West Ham] I said to Arsene Wenger that I probably couldn’t play the whole game.”

Bendtner is apparently undergoing “intensive treatment” this week but has yet to train. He goes on to reveal that he hopes to return to full training today but sounds sceptical on his chances of taking to the pitch at St Andrews…

“I hope to resume training on Thursday or Friday – that would put me in the frame for Birmingham but I’m not confident I will progress so rapidly.”

With the Champions League Quarter-Final with Barcelona to follow next Wednesday, it seems unlikely that Wenger will take any risks with Bendtner should he go into the weekend carrying the knock. That would come as a blow to the striker’s growing army of fantasy owners who have recently benefited from returns of three goals and four assists in five league games.

A short-term absence may not be enough to convince Bendtner owners to get rid then, particularly given his price (6.2) and the availability of options in that bracket. Fulham’s Bobby Zamora (5.6) does present one possible candidate. He notched again in the FA Cup defeat at Spurs last night and with decent fixtures (hul WIG liv/STK WLV eve) can perhaps promise Fantasy Premier League bonus points which would help compliment his goal returns.

Tottenham’s own Roman Pavlyuchenko, also a scorer last night, is priced at 6.5 in the FPL and is therefore another option, although his mid-term fixtures look far trickier than Zamora’s and he is of course under threat of rotation having recently sustained an injury.