With International break starting from today, here are the latest injury updates regarding Arsenal striker duo of Olivier Giroud and Lucas Perez and the midfield pair of Aaron Ramsey and Francis Coquelin.
Francis Coquelin is expected to return to action earlier than initially estimated. He had injured the same knee he injured last year against West Bromwich Albion and is set to return before 15th October. He has trained with the first team before Arsenal’s match against Burnley. But there were some negatives too.
Arsene Wenger has revealed that Olivier Giroud would be a doubt with his ongoing toe injury and is set to miss France’ next World Cup qualifiers. French news outlet L’Equipe claim the striker will have to rule himself out because of his toe injury.
The 29-year-old is yet to start a game for Arsenal this season, but had made four sub appearances. Wenger when asked about the injury said:
It is uncertain for Sunday, we’ll see.
I do not know [if he can join the French squad],
It will depend on the evolution of his injury.
Aaron Ramsey has been omitted from Wales’ 23-man squad for World Cup Qualifying matches against Austria and Georgia next month due to injury. The 25-year-old star has been sidelined since the opening weekend of the season after injuring his hamstring during the Gunners’ 4-3 loss to Liverpool at the Emirates Stadium.
Coleman, on the other hand, previously suggested Arsenal were guilty of rushing Ramsey back into action too soon following his involvement at the Euros. He said:
It’s disappointing he’s got an injury. Could it have been prevented? Possibly, yes,
I think we all expected him to [miss the start of the season], so I don’t know what happened between then and when he ended up on the pitch. Obviously only Arsenal can answer that. I think, to a man, if you were looking at Arsenal’s team sheet, it was a bit of a surprise he started [against Liverpool]. I think Aaron said himself [in France] that he wasn’t expecting to.
Lucas Perez was absent in the match against Burnley with a slight knee injury before the match during the training sessions and will be back in time for our match against Swansea in the Premier League.
As we go further to the International break and the match against Swansea, Arsenal are in a predicament. Alexis Sanchez has been called up for Chile’s World Cup qualifiers which means he could miss Arsenal’s Premier League clash against Swansea.
Alexis is a huge part of the Chile national side and he was even awarded Player of the Tournament when they won the Copa America this summer. It’s unthinkable to think they’d leave him out.
Let’s keep our fingers and toes crossed for no injuries, eh? Not that those have stopped him before.
