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Team News: Wenger confirms boost & offers update on Mesut Ozil

By mac14 on October 13, 2016

Arsene Wenger has been speaking to the media today ahead of Arsenal’s Premier League clash with Swansea and has given an update on Mesut Ozil and Carl Jenkinson.

Jenkinson damaged his cruciate knee ligament back in January while on loan at West Ham and the club decided to take the opportunity to operate on a long-term shoulder problem while he was on the sidelines.

The right-back worked hard during his rehabilitation before returning to full training earlier this month and Wenger has confirmed the 24-year-old is now ready to step-up his recovery with a run out for the under-23’s when they take on Southampton at Meadow Park on Friday night.

Wenger told Arsenal.com:

“He will be playing on Friday night and after that it’s down to getting a little bit more competition. He has been out for a very long time but he’s available again to compete now.

“It has been very tough for him because he had the knee and after, the shoulders. You think it’s endless at that age, you need to be patient.

“He has been patient, resilient and he has a fantastic mentality – he has worked very hard to come back. He had the support of everybody here at the club and I think he has done extremely well.”

Ozil sparked fears that he had suffered an injury after being taken off at half-time during Germany’s World Cup qualifying win over Northern Ireland on Tuesday night.

However, he took to Twitter after the game to suggest that his substitution was nothing to worry about and now Wenger has confirmed that Ozil has told the clubs medical team that he’s fit and available for selection this weekend.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

He told us he’s completely fit. We’ll see that today, if we have no bad news today. I see him later. I expect him to be available, especially because he’s only played one half, so he doesn’t need to be rested on Saturday.

Obviously it’s a huge relief that Mesut didn’t suffer any sort of injury concern while away on international duty and it looks like that with Germany leading 2-0 at half-time against Ireland, Joachim Low simply decided to give the playmaker a rest.