LONDON -- Arsenal striker Lucas Perez has been ruled out for up to eight weeks with an ankle injury, manager Arsene Wenger has confirmed.
Perez limped off in the second half of Tuesday's 2-0 win over Reading after a late tackle, and tests confirmed the full extent of the injury.
"We lost Perez for a while," Wenger said at his news conference on Friday. "Hopefully he'll recover, but I think he'll be six to eight weeks out."
The injury is a big blow to the Spaniard, who has been eased into the team gradually after his £17 million move from Deportivo La Coruna in the summer.
"It's very frustrating, because he worked very hard to get there. And now he's close [to a starting role]," Wenger said. "He is absolutely gutted because it's an injury coming from nowhere, and a stupid one. Because it was a deliberate kick."
Wenger said the tackle by Danzell Gravenberch was similar to the foul that earned Granit Xhaka a red card against Swansea because of the deliberate nature of it.
"It was not needed. I think it was a more frustrated reaction from the player. He had no chance to get the ball like that, but you have to deal with that," Wenger said. "Sometimes you get away with it, sometimes you get a bad injury. In this case it's unfortunate."
The good news for Wenger is that midfielder Aaron Ramsey is back in the squad for Saturday's trip to Sunderland, with striker Olivier Giroud also available after making his injury comeback on Tuesday. However, there are still question marks about whether Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott and Nacho Monreal will be fit enough to play, with all three carrying minor niggles.
"They all have tests today," Wenger said.
Cazorla has missed two games with an Achilles problem, while Walcott has a "very minor" hamstring concern and Monreal is struggling with muscle tightness.
Ramsey has not played since injuring his hamstring on the opening day of the season, and Wenger hinted that he will not throw him straight back into the starting lineup.
"I have to be a bit cautious, especially with Aaron Ramsey because he has not played at all yet, and he has only one week with the team, so I will be a bit cautious with him," Wenger said.
Cazorla's continued absence would be a blow given that Granit Xhaka is still serving a suspension, and his Arsenal sorely missed him last weekend when they failed to break down Middlesbrough without him in a 0-0 draw.
Asked what Arsenal lack when Cazorla isn't on the pitch, Wenger said: "The pass from deep midfield to high midfield, and the security on the ball, getting out of pressure. When we are closed down he gets you out of tight situations and creates openings for the team. There is as well a good understanding between him and Mesut Ozil."
But he added that the players he had available should still have managed to win against Middlesbrough.
"We had enough domination, enough quality to win the game on the pitch. And that is where we have to find a solution even when Santi is not there," Wenger said. "No matter how big Santi is - and God knows I rate him highly - we have as well drawn games with Santi and we have won games without him."