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Update on Arsenal duo as Unai Emery’s injury concerns deepen

By on November 13, 2018

alexandre lacazette

Arsenal could be facing a striker shortage against Bournemouth next week with Alexandre Lacazette possibly joining Danny Welbeck on the sidelines.

Welbeck is obviously certain to miss the trip to the south coast on November 25 after suffering a broken ankle during Arsenal’s 0-0 Europa League draw with Sporting Lisbon last Thursday night.

The striker fell on his right ankle midway through the first half and it was immediately clear he had suffered a serious injury with Unai Emery later confirming after the draw with Wolves that Welbeck had undergone surgery on Friday afternoon.

The club have since issued another update on Arsenal.com that revealed Danny has now undergone a second operation on his ankle but no specific time-frame has been put on his rehabilitation.

The operations were both successful but Welbeck is still facing several months on the sidelines and even if his rehab goes smoothly, I don’t think we’ll be seeing the 27-year-old until towards the end of the season.

With his contract up in June 2019 it’s going to be interesting to see what happens with Welbeck in the long-term at Arsenal but his absence leaves us without a versatile forward for the foreseeable future.

So it comes as a slight concern to hear that fellow striker Lacazette has now pulled out of being called-up to the French squad because of a groin injury [as reported by the Mirror].

Lacazette was initially overlooked by Didier Deschamps before being called-up as a replacement for Anthony Martial on Monday after the Manchester United attacker pulled out of the 23-man squad.

However, Lacazette was also forced to make himself unavailable for international duty after picking up a groin problem during the 1-1 draw with Wolves at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

The issue is only thought to be minor but Lacazette was keen not to aggravate it further by playing for France in their upcoming games against Holland and Uruguay so he was given permission to remain in north London to rest.

Hopefully the injury subsides over the coming days and doesn’t develop in to something more serious as it would be a huge blow to lose Lacazette. The 27-year-old has become a key player under Emery and with Welbeck on the sidelines, we’d be low on options up front if Laca was ruled out of the Bournemouth game after the international break.

Stephan Lichtsteiner, Mohamed Elneny, Nacho Monreal, Dinos Mavropanos and of course Laurent Koscielny are all unavailable right now, along with Lacazette and Welbeck, so the injuries are piling up.

It’s been an encouraging start to the season for Emery but the last thing he wants is a succession of injury problems to derail our campaign and interrupt our momentum that’s seen us go on a 16-match unbeaten run in all competitions.