Arsene Wenger has revealed some crucial injury updates on Arsenal duo Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs after the Gunners 1-0 win over West Brom.
Walcott was expected to start the game against the Baggies on Boxing Day but to everyone’s surprise he was left out of the squad, leaving fans concerned.
However the boss has now confirmed to that the English forward is suffering from a calf problem, describing the injury as a minor one.
Gibbs was handed a rare Premier League start yesterday and looked solid for most of the game until the 27-year-old was forced off with 20 minutes to go following a clash of knees.
Wenger also revealed that Gibbs received a kick to his knee but the boss stated that the injury need further analysis before they’ll know the full extent of the problem.
Speaking to Arsenal’s official website after the game, he said:
[on Gibbs]It’s a kick. I don’t know how bad it is, but it’s a kick on the knee.
Theo has a small calf problem, but a very small one.
It will be a huge relief for the fans and Wenger that Walcott’s injury isn’t serious as the last thing the Gunners would want is to lose their in-form winger, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain already sidelined with a hamstring problem.
Hopefully, Walcott will be fit and available to face Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day as we could certainly have done with him against West Brom today and I think Sam Allardyce will set Palace up to be equally difficult to break down.
Hopefully Gibbs’ injury doesn’t turn out to be too serious as the defender is just forcing his way back into the starting line-up and with Monreal putting up some really mediocre performances recently, we definitely need Gibbs to be ready to take over.
