Wenger Confirms Double Injury Blow, Offers Ramsey Update + Reveals RW Options

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has given a full team news update ahead of Saturday’s trip to Swansea and confirmed Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have been ruled out for at least three weeks.

Oxlade-Chamberlain was forced off inside the opening two minutes during our 3-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night after picking up a hamstring injury while Walcott also lasted just 15 minutes after suffering a calf problem.

Wenger has revealed that the duo will undergo further scans today to assess the full extend of the injuries and although he’s hoping they won’t be too serious, the boss has confirmed they won’t play again until after the international break at the earliest.

Fingers crossed we get good news from the scans but as it stands Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott will now not only miss this weekend’s trip to Wales but they’ll also sit out the subsequent games against Bayern Munich and Tottenham.

They will join Aaron Ramsey, David Ospina and Mikel Arteta on the sidelines with the trio also pencilled in to return after the international break.

Ramsey is nursing a hamstring injury, Ospina has a shoulder problem while Arteta is out with a foot injury and they will also miss our upcoming run of games but could return for the trip to West Brom next month.

Of course Jack Wilshere, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky are also still unavailable and with so many players out injured the boss has limited options in midfield and attack.

Fans have been speculating over how we’ll line-up on Saturday but Arsene has revealed that it will be Alex Iwobi or Joel Campbell who will start on the right wing this weekend.

He told Arsenal.com:

on Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain…

Nothing has changed since after the game. They are out but the scans are today – it’s 48 hours afterwards. We hope they are light injuries, but they are out until after the international break.

on Ramsey, Ospina, Arteta…

It’s the same for them. You plan for them all after the international break.

on his right-sided options at Swansea…

Campbell and Alex Iwobi. Santi can play there as well but he has become very important centrally. The problem sometimes is that you can destroy two departments if you move one player out. We control the ball better with Santi in the middle.

It really is a major blow to lose Chamberlain and Walcott on top of the other injuries we’ve got to deal with and the squad is now stretched to breaking point. Another injury over the next few games and we’re in serious trouble.