Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Major Double Boost Ahead Of Chelsea Game

Arsenal will look to cement their place at the top of the Premier League table when they entertain Chelsea at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, Arsene Wenger has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this morning and he’s given Arsenal.com a team news and injury update.

The Gunners boss was pleased to confirm that Mesut Ozil will return to the squad after the German playmaker missed last weekend’s 0-0 draw at Stoke City due to a minor knock.

There is also positive news on Alexis Sanchez as Wenger is confident the Chilean international will finally be ready to make his comeback after eight weeks on the sidelines.

Sanchez suffered a hamstring injury against Norwich back in November and while Wenger describes the next two days as ‘decisive’, the Frenchman suggests his star man will be available to face Chelsea.

However, it remains to be seen whether Sanchez will start at the Emirates as Wenger is determined not to rush him back too soon as he wants to avoid causing any sort of setback.

The Gunners have also received further boosts with Francis Coquelin due to resume training today after nine weeks out with a knee injury while Danny Welbeck is set to make his return to training next week after over eight months on the sidelines.

The final update from Wenger was on Tomas Rosicky – who returned to training last week – and the Arsenal boss confirmed the midfield is due to step-up his comeback with a run-out for the under-21’s tomorrow night.

Wenger told the clubs website:

on the latest updates…

Compared to last week we have no big problems from the squad that was available to face Stoke. The good news is that Ozil will certainly be available. For Alexis the next few days will be decisive but I think this time he will make it to be available for selection.

on Alexis…

The doubt is that he has been out for a long time and [there is] the risk of a setback if you try to go too early. To be clear on all the tests is one thing, after he is clear on training is another thing, and after that the intensity of a big game which you can never repeat in a training session. You can make sure after a certain amount of time that the risk is minimal. I am cautious with him because we cannot afford a setback with him. A setback would mean a very long period out so we don’t want to take this gamble. The signs he has shown in training this week are positive.

on Coquelin, Welbeck and Rosicky…

Coquelin is back in full training today and he is ahead of schedule. He has still a few steps to go through. Welbeck will be in full training next week so that is positive news. It is possible Rosicky will play in the under-21 game [on Friday]. He was a bit sick at the beginning of the week but we planned for him to play tomorrow night. We have a few players coming back because we go into a very important period now for us.

So Arsenal should have two of their key players back to face Chelsea which will be a huge boost for the Premier League leaders as they look to cement their position at the top of the table with a positive result on Sunday.