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Arsenal boss confirms duo are set to return + Cazorla latest

By on January 26, 2017

per mertesacker arsenal

Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Per Mertesacker and Mathieu Debuchy are set to resume full training with the rest of the first team tomorrow while he also gave the latest on Santi Cazorla.

Mertesacker is yet to play a single minute of competitive football this season due to a knee injury that he suffered in pre-season while his comeback was delayed after he sustained a calf problem in training last month.

It’s still going to take Per a few weeks before he’ll be fully fit and available for selection but it will be great to have him around the squad again and he’ll give us another option at the back during the second half of the season.

Debuchy has also been on the sidelines for much of the season with a hamstring injury keeping him out for the last two months, however, the Frenchman is also due to return to full training tomorrow.

There’s no chance Debuchy is going to reclaim the first team shirt from Hector Bellerin any time soon but with a possible move to Marseille stalling and Carl Jenkinson expected to leave before the window closes, the 31-year-old could yet establish himself as our second choice right-back for the rest of the season.

The boss also gave a brief update on Cazorla and confirmed that the Spanish international is yet to return to full training as he continues to recover from surgery on his Achilles.

Santi suffered a setback earlier this month and Wenger has previously said the midfielder is nowhere near ready to step-up his rehabilitation so it doesn’t look like we’ll be seeing him back any time soon.

Wenger told Arsenal.com:

on team news…

The good news is that Per Mertesacker and Mathieu Debuchy are back in full training from Friday, so the squad is quite big, but we are a bit short in midfield at the moment.

on Santi being the only player not in full training…

Not Santi, no.

There was also some positive news regarding the fitness of Theo Walcott as the boss also revealed at his press conference this morning that the attacker will be back in the squad to face Southampton in the FA Cup this weekend after recovering from a calf injury.