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LONDON. — Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Brazilian defender Gabriel Paulista has been ruled out for up to three weeks with a hamstring injury.

The 24-year-old now faces a spell on the treatment table after being substituted after 37 minutes into the 2-1 win against QPR in midweek.

Gabriel was playing just his third game for the north Londoners since making his £11m move from Villarreal in January.

He is now set to miss Monday’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Manchester United at Old Trafford, as well as upcoming games against West Ham and their crunch Champions League last-16 second leg showdown against Monaco in France.

“Gabriel has a little hamstring injury and will be out for two to three weeks which means he’s not available for the weekend, West Ham and Monaco, but after that he should be back,” Wenger said.

“Nacho Monreal (back strain) might come back in to the squad.

“He will have a test today but everybody else should be available from the same squad that played against Queen’s Park Rangers.”

The Sao Paulo-born player made his Gunners debut in the home win over Middlesbrough in the fifth round of the FA Cup and impressed in the recent 2-0 victory over Everton.

The centre-back joins Jack Wilshere, Mathieu Flamini, Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Debuchy and Abou Diaby on the sidelines.

Meanwhile, Wenger admits Mesut Ozil’s “huge physical potential” has taken him by surprise.

Since the 5-0 victory against Aston Villa on February 1, the World Cup winner has run a total of 63.24km during matches — more than any other Arsenal player.

The 26-year-old also covered the most ground in Sunday’s 2-0 win against Everton and Wenger has been delighted with his impact.

“I knew he had a good physical potential, but I did not know how good he was physically. He has a huge physical potential,” the manager said.

“We are all in a job where in every single game we have to prove a point. I believe he has the quality, he puts a lot of effort in to help the team and he works much harder than his style shows.

“You can be cheated a little bit by his style of play, because he is fluent, easy, subtle and he does not look like he puts the effort in, but he does.”

Wenger has also hit back at TV pundit Paul Scholes and told him: “You would have loved to play with Mesut Ozil.”

Former Manchester United midfielder Scholes has been scathing about Arsenal’s £42million star and claimed Ozil took “the easy option” by moving to the Emirates. — Sky Sports.