Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has delivered an injury update on three first-team players ahead of Wednesday night’s London derby versus Chelsea in the Premier League.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Wenger provided some positive news on the injury front with both Laurent Koscielny and Mesut Ozil due to have fitness tests, though the former has only a 30 percent chance of featuring in the derby.
He said, via The Mirror: “At the moment our injury list is quite long. We lost Kolasinac, Koscielny in the game at West Brom. The two who have a little chance are Ozil, who might have a test this morning and Koscielny, who is 30-70 available.”
Aside from this, Sead Kolasinac, Aaron Ramsey, Nacho Monreal and Olivier Giroud are all certain to miss the upcoming league fixture alongside the FA Cup outing versus Nottingham Forest this weekend.
Arsenal looked to have survived their seasonal injury scare earlier in December, but they have lost a host of key first-team players, who could play a significant role in their top-four hunt.
With Koscielny doubtful, Wenger could revert to his previously preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, and we could potentially see Calum Chambers paired alongside Shkodran Mustafi in a two-man central defence.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles has stepped up for the Premier League duties of late, and the young Englishman is likely to place Kolasinac on the left side of the defence, a position where he has started in three of the last five league matches.
Arsene Wenger’s side are nevertheless likely to be hampered in the attack front with the potential absence of Mesut Ozil generally dropping the cutting edge whilst playing on a counter-attack.
Alex Iwobi replaced the German in the starting XI last time around, but Wenger could potentially start one of Danny Welbeck or Theo Walcott on the right wing versus the Blues, if he opts for a change.
