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Arsenal dealt huge blow after key man ruled out until March 2017

By on December 1, 2016

santi cazorla

Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Premier League title have been dealt a significant blow after the club confirmed that Santi Cazorla requires surgery and will be out for 3 months.

Cazorla hasn’t been seen since limping out of our Champions League victory over Ludogorets at the Emirates back in mid-October after he suffered a recurrence of a long-term Achilles injury.

Arsene Wenger suggested immediately after the game that it was just a minor issue but it came as no surprise that the injury was far worse than first thought and has made little progress over the past six weeks.

Alarm bells started to ring when the boss revealed on Tuesday that Santi’s Achilles was still inflamed and he had no idea when the Spanish international would be available for selection again.

Now, the club have revealed on Arsenal.com that the 31-year-old has been advised to have surgery on his right ankle and will travel to Sweden early next week to undergo the procedure.

It’s estimated that Cazorla’s full recovery time will be three months so the best case scenario is that the midfielder will be available again in March 2017, however, we all know that Arsenal players tend to take longer than expected to recover so god knows when Santi will be back.

A statement on Arsenal.com said:

Santi Cazorla is travelling to Sweden early next week to undergo surgery to his right ankle.

The club’s medical team and specialists have decided that surgery is required to the plantaris tendon in the Spain international’s right foot.

The problem has not progressed during a rehabilitation programme following the injury during the home match with Ludogorets on October 19.

We expect Santi’s full recovery to take approximately three months.

Obviously this is a HUGE blow for us as Cazorla is the one player who really sets our tempo and makes us tick. I can’t stress enough how important he is to our team.

Since the start of the 2014/15 season, we’ve won 65.5% of league games that Cazorla has started. Worryingly, this figure drops to just 38.9% when he doesn’t, so we have to find a way to change this or we’re in for a long hard season.

The obvious answer is Granit Xhaka and the time has now come for Wenger to put his faith in the Swiss international. We need a deep-lying pass master and Xhaka is the best we’ve got.

I hate to say it, but we do look a little foolish not putting a recall clause in Jack Wilshere’s loan……