Arsenal have received a huge injury blow ahead of the North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur with Olivier Giroud expected to miss the tie.
The French striker picked up a minor knee injury while on international duty earlier this week and will definitely miss this weekend’s fixture.
The 31-year-old has been struggling for playing time and hasn’t yet started a Premier League game this season. However, the striker has been impressing as an impact sub whenever called upon.
Speaking at the pre-match press conference, Arsene Wenger confirmed that Olivier Giroud is definitely out for the Spurs game but revealed that the striker should return to training on Monday.
According to Arsenal’s official website, he said:
Olivier picked up an injury, and I don’t think he will be available for Saturday.
It is short term and he should start [training] on Monday, we will have to assess him then but I don’t think he will be available this weekend.
Giroud hasn’t featured much for the Gunners this season, but his impact from the bench has been invaluable for the North London club. With Danny Welbeck expected to be available for Saturday’s game, Wenger shouldn’t have too many problems.
It’s likely that the boss won’t risk starting Welbeck, so the fight would be between Sanchez and Lacazette to start up front. The Chilean has been a hit and miss upfront this season and hopefully, Wenger will field him on the wing with Lacazette playing as the lone striker.
The Frenchman has been in great goalscoring form over the past few weeks, netting 2 goals for France a few days back and the striker was also impressive against City scoring a goal.
For unknown reasons, Wenger hasn’t yet started Laca in big games and hopefull he won’t repeat the same mistake this weekend.
