Arsene Wenger Offers Fitness Update On Key Arsenal Duo

Arsene Wenger has offered an update on the fitness of Olivier Giroud and Santi Cazorla after the pair missed Arsenal’s disappointing 0-0 draw at home to Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon.

Giroud has been on the sidelines for over six weeks since suffering a toe injury during the final stages of our 1-1 draw at Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last month.

The striker has been working on his fitness in training in recent weeks and Wenger has now confirmed that the French international could make his comeback during our EFL Cup clash with Reading on Tuesday night.

Cazorla missed the frustrating draw with Middlesbrough this afternoon after being forced off during our 6-0 win over Ludogorets in midweek with an achilles injury.

The boss said after the Champions League game that he hoped the problem was only a minor one but he admitted today that he isn’t sure when the midfielder will be available again as he’ll need to be further assessed on Monday.

Wenger told Arsenal.com:

on when Giroud and Cazorla will return…

Cazorla – I don’t really know because we have to see how he recovers on Monday and Giroud could be in the squad on Tuesday night. We have a game on Tuesday night here, so maybe he will be available to be in the squad on Tuesday.

Giroud was a huge miss today as we struggled to break Boro down and lacked ideas in the final third so the Frenchman’s height would certainly have been a useful Plan B.

Cazorla was also sorely missed this afternoon as with Aaron Ramsey also missing, we lacked any creativity or incisive passing in the middle of the park with Elneny playing alongside Coquelin.

Let’s hope both players are back quickly as we need to get back to winning ways following today’s poor showing.