Arsenal Suffer Fresh Injury Blow As Wenger Offers Update On Key Attacking Duo

Arsenal have been dealt a fresh injury blow with Arsene Wenger confirming that Jack Wilshere has suffered a setback while the Gunners boss also gave an update on Danny Welbeck.

Wilshere has been on the sidelines for the last month after the injury-plagued midfielder suffered a hairline fracture to his left fibula in training at the start of August.

Arsene had initially hoped the 23-year-old would be able to return to action after the international break which would have put him in contention for a place in the squad against Stoke on Saturday.

However, the boss has confirmed that Wilshere is making slow progress after suffering a minor setback in his recovery. It means he’s certain to miss out this weekend but Wenger was reluctant to give any more away before speaking with his medical team.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference earlier today, Wenger is quoted as saying by the Mirror:

“I have not seen him [Wilshere] in the last two or three days. He is progressing slowly and I can’t tell you much more about it. I will talk with my medical staff today.

“It is slower than expected as I expected him to be back and available after the break but unfortunately he will not be available for Saturday.

“He had a little setback and I have to know about it but I can’t tell you much more as I have no medical information.”

This is a big blow as I think we’ve really missed Jack’s creativity during the opening few games of the season. Hopefully this latest setback is nothing serious and Wilshere can get his campaign started sooner rather than later.

Wenger has also given an update on the situation surrounding Danny Welbeck after the striker was forced to undergo surgery to repair a niggling knee injury at the end of August.

England boss Roy Hodgson suggested this week that Welbeck was facing six months on the sidelines but thankfully Arsene has cleared things up by confirming he should be back around Christmas time.

The boss told Arsenal.com.

Yes, we got very bad news [on Welbeck] because in my mind he was almost ready to play again. He was very close but he could not tolerate the final step up in his rehab.

We always wanted to try conservative rehab first under the guidance of specialists and he did get very close. We had to consult and in the end they decided to go in and see what’s wrong. He will be out certainly until Christmas.

Obviously it’s still devastating news to lose Welbeck for the rest of 2015 but it’s a lot better than Hodgson’s six-month prognosis. Fingers crossed the 24-year-old makes a swift recovery as I think we’re really going to miss his versatility over the coming months.