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Wenger Confirms Bad Injury News Regarding Cazorla & Giroud
Some hugely disappointing, and worrying, injury news tonight Gooners with boss Arsene Wenger confirming that Santi Cazorla is set to be out of action until mid-October and he’s concerned Olivier Giroud has also picked up a knee injury.
Cazorla missed today’s win at Sunderland with an ankle injury picked up while away with Spain and it was thought he’d be back to face Marseille in midweek.
However, it seems that was rather optimistic with Wenger claiming after the game today that the Spaniard is set for a spell on the sidelines and he doesn’t expect his to feature again before the next international break, which would rule him out until the Norwich game on the 19th October – missing six games in the process.
Wenger said after the game:
“Cazorla has an ankle problem. He will be out for a few weeks as well.
“I don’t think he will play before the next international break.” Wenger is quoted as saying by Goal
There were also worrying scenes in the closing minutes today with Giroud receiving treatment for a knee injury, and Wenger is also concerned he’s set to lose his only fit striker.
“That’s my worry [that Giroud is injured], today, after the game,” he said. “We are very thin at the moment.
“It’s a knee problem. He is the player at the moment who we cannot lose.”
It really is becoming something of a joke. We just can’t seem to keep players fit these days. We already have Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski, Abou Diaby, Per Mertesacker, Yaya Sanogo and Tomas Rosicky unavailable, and now we’re adding Cazorla and potentially Giroud to the list. Who else can boast an injury list like this?
With the addition of Ozil, we could just about make do without Cazorla as long as we don’t pick up any more injuries (which let’s face it, is unlikely), but there’s no way we can survive without Giroud for any length of time. We simply don’t have the back-up.
Podolski was the only serious alternative, but he’s out for about another 5-6 weeks. Sanogo is nowhere near ready even if he was fit. Walcott is the likely candidate to play through the middle, but then who plays on the right?
I hate to say it, but we’re already seeing the effects of our inactivity in the summer window. Ozil and Flamini were great pieces of business, but to not sign a winger and another striker was suicide by Wenger.
Fingers crossed we get some good news on Giroud but this just shows how precarious our striker situation is.
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