Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger faces an anxious wait to discover whether Mikel Arteta sustained any damage in the challenge that earned Fulham's Steve Sidwell a 12th-minute red card in the sides' encounter at Craven Cottage.
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Sidwell's early dismissal helped Wenger's side secure a 1-0 victory on Saturday that moved them up to third in the Premier League ahead of Chelsea's visit to Liverpool.
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Arteta, Arsenal's captain on the day, played on for the rest of the match, but Wenger fears the midfielder could yet suffer a reaction ahead of next weekend's meeting with Manchester United.
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"We will see if he is fine. He played the second half. I don't know how much damage is done. It is a kick, a bad kick," the Arsenal manager said.
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"I don't know if he has twisted his ankle or not. In these kind of things, it is a question of a fraction of a second.
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"You can just ease a little bit off. If you are fully on your foot at the moment you get it, you break your leg. If you ease a bit off, maybe that is why he got away with it."
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Wenger had no doubt Sidwell's challenge would receive a red card, but he did have some sympathy with his striker Olivier Giroud, who was sent off in the 90th minute for a similar challenge.
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The manager will make a decision on whether to appeal against the decision – which will rule Giroud out of three of Arsenal's final four games – after reviewing footage of the incident.
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But he said: "I spoke to Giroud and he said to me he slipped at the moment he went for the ball. It is confirmed by the television.
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"I haven't seen the replay. He is not a tackler. He went a bit over the ball and knowing Sidwell had been sent off before, I had no illusion about the colour of the card."
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Arsenal's win shifted the pressure onto Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur in the battle to fill the final two Champions League places.
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Wenger said: "We are on a strong run, we go into the next game and focus on winning that. The next game we know will be Manchester United, so it is a good challenge for us. But it is important for us to win our games, of course."
Injury worries is the last thing they need right now. This is a very delicate time in the English Premier League. They need full concentration