Arsenal's Mertesacker to miss Newcastle trip leaving Wenger frustrated with his treatment

The centre-back was ruled out of Monday's goalless draw at home to Liverpool along with defensive partner Laurent Koscielny, who is also expected to miss the trip to St James' Park with the same back problem.

It is Mertesacker's absence that has caused Wenger the most angst, though, as he continues to feel unwell all the time there is a fundamental disagreement over his treatment.

Bronchitis, the most usual cause of a chest infection, is the result of a virus and therefore cannot be treated by antibiotics - the misuse of which is strongly discouraged in modern medicine due to the danger of germs building up immunity. But Wenger's irritation was obvious.

"At the moment he does not get better," Wenger said. "On Wednesday he was not good, we had to send him home, he has a chest infection.

"And the Germans are a bit sceptical of antibiotics, so I don't know sort of medication he is taking, I don't know if he takes antibiotics.

"I hope that he comes in one day soon and says I am perfectly all right."

It means Gabriel and Calum Chambers are likely to continue to deputise, with support from Francis Coquelin in his role as a defensive midfielder.

Wenger was criticised by Gary Neville on Monday for not recruiting a bigger presence to sit in that position - Neville went so far as to call the Arsenal manager "arrogant" or "naïve".

And the war of words continued yesterday with Wenger clearly thinking of the Sky pair when he accused modern pundits of not having the facts to back up their numbers.

"We have had that debate for a long time now: 'Arsenal does not buy defensive players'," Wenger said. "Yet Coquelin has the best defensive statistics and numbers in Europe. I don't know what people see. Defensively, Coquelin is doing a great job.

"In football you have to accept that anybody can be right. The only thing I want is that when people have opinions, it is documented and worked-out before. Especially when it is football specialists.

"It is not just about talking. I accept you can be right and I can be wrong. But what you do not want is just an opinion that comes out just because you feel like that."