Arsenal full-back Andre Santos will undergo surgery in Brazil on his injured ankle and will be sidelined for three months, the club have confirmed.

GettyImagesAndre Santos was stretchered off during Arsenal's defeat to Olympiakos

The news comes as a big blow to the Gunners, who were forced to play with four centre-backs - Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Thomas Vermaelen and Johan Djourou - in Saturday's 1-0 win over Everton with no specialist full-backs available.

Santos damaged the ligaments in his right ankle during Arsenal's Champions League defeat to Olympiakos last Tuesday and manager Arsene Wenger said he feared the defender would be "out for a while".

The club confirmed those fears in a statement on Monday: "Andre will have surgery in Brazil this week and is expected to be out for around three months. Everyone at the club wishes him well."

With Santos, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson all injured, Arsenal will have to continue to use players out of position at full back.