If Arsenal are to win the Barclays Premier League title this season, they will have to do it mostly without Cesc Fàbregas. The influential midfield player and newly appointed captain of the North London club has been ruled out for up to four months after suffering a partial rupture of the medial ligament in his right knee.

Should Fàbregas’s recovery take longer than the gloomy prediction of Arsène Wenger yesterday, then the Spain player could yet miss the rest of the campaign. However, Fàbregas is determined to return to the game as quickly, after confirming he would not need an operation.

"I will endeavour to return as soon as possible to do what I like most, to play football," he said. "After consulting with the best doctor possible, we've decided not to operate.

"If it would have been necessary it would have been the first thing I would have done, but the doctor recommended to me not to because I'm young and the meniscus is not damaged. Although we cannot be certain because the injury only happened a few days ago, but I will be out for more or less four months."

Fàbregas could miss at least 25 matches in the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup. It would leave him a maximum of eight games at the business end of the season in which to make an impact.

Assuming that, in his absence, Arsenal remain in contention for the league title and both cups, a less than fully match-fit Fàbregas would have to be thrown in straight at the deep end. A return after four months would allow him to play in the two legs of the Champions League semi-finals, on April 28/29 and May 5/6, and the final in Rome on May 27. He would also be available for the FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium on May 30.

If those fixtures were not physically demanding enough, Arsenal will have four games left in the league and the matches against Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium on May 9 and Manchester United at Old Trafford on May 16 — both potential title-deciders — would fully test a rehabilitated knee.

Fàbregas, 21, was injured by a robust challenge from Xabi Alonso, his compatriot, in the 1-1 draw against Liverpool on Sunday. His reaction — covering his face with his shirt as he limped off the pitch — left no doubt as to how severe he felt that the injury might be.

Yesterday, his worst fears were confirmed, although Fàbregas has absolved Alonso of any blame. "He [Alonso] was very concerned about me," he said. "He called me after the game, he has been sending messages and also called me before I saw the doctor. These are things that happen, it's football and Xabi is a great friend of mine.

"It's the first serious injury that I've had in my career. Everybody gets injured and now it's my turn. I will have to wait, undertake my recovery and return as soon as possible."

Wenger will consider strengthening his squad in the transfer window next month. He has ruled out a move for Andrei Arshavin, the Zenit St Petersburg forward, and will be fortunate to find a replacement of calibre who will be eligible to play in the Champions League. “We are now more likely to buy in January,” Wenger said. “But we also have internal solutions.”

Lassana Diarra could have filled the gap left by Fàbregas yet Wenger sold him to Portsmouth for £5.5 million last January and the player has just moved on to Real Madrid for a reported fee of £20 million. “No, I have no regrets,” Wenger said. “We had a midfield that was Alexander Hleb, Cesc, Mathieu Flamini and Tomas Rosicky and he [Diarra] was behind that. He didn’t accept it. What can you do?”

A takeover of Arsenal that could have released funds for Wenger will not happen in the new year. Red & White Holdings, the investment company of Alisher Usmanov that has a 24 per cent shareholding in the club, said yesterday: “Red & White can confirm that its position is unchanged; it has no current intention to make an offer for Arsenal and is committing to this position for six months.”