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Team News: Wenger On Wilshere, Koscielny, Welbeck & Mertesacker
It’s been another busy day of team news at Arsenal HQ so I’ll bring you a round-up including the latest on several of our key men….
Arsene Wenger held his pre-match press conference this morning ahead of the Stoke game and he gave Arsenal.com a full team news and injury update.
The boss confirmed that Welbeck is expected to be sidelined until around Christmas after undergoing surgery on his troublesome knee injury.
Danny looked to be getting close to a first team return last month but it appears the increased workload when he returned to training aggravated the knee and we had no option but to operate.
Hopefully Danny can make a speedy recovery as he’ll be sorely missed over the next 3/4 months, but at least he’s not out for 6 months as was suggested by Roy Hodgson earlier this week.
The next update was on Wilshere and unfortunately he’s suffered another, albeit minor, setback and won’t feature this weekend.
Jack’s been out for a month with a fibula injury and there were hopes he’d be back in full training after the international break. However, this latest setback has ruled him out again so we’ll just have to see how serious it is this time.
There was some positive news to come out of Arsene’s press conference as he confirmed that Mertesacker is back in training after missing almost three weeks with a nasty virus.
The German could line-up alongside Koscielny this weekend as he’s been able to train as normal despite missing France’s win over Serbia on Monday with a minor back problem.
Wenger revealed that he has no fresh injury concerns following the international break while he also gave a small update on Rosicky after saying he’ll be out for a similar time as Welbeck following his own knee surgery.
Here is what Arsene told the clubs website:
on Danny Welbeck…
Yes, we got very bad news because in my mind he was almost ready to play again. He was very close but he could not tolerate the final step up in his rehab. We always wanted to try conservative rehab first under the guidance of specialists and he did get very close. We had to consult and in the end they decided to go in and see what’s wrong. He will be out certainly until Christmas.
on Jack Wilshere…
He is progressing slowly. Unfortunately he will not be available for Saturday.
on Per Mertesacker…
Per was out for 18 days but he’s back now in training.
on Laurent Koscielny…
Laurent is alright, he had a normal training session yesterday.
on the international break…
All the players who have been away on international duty have come back in good shape. We should have the same squad available.
on Tomas Rosicky…
It’s similar [to Welbeck], it’s a similar surgery.