Arsenal Team News: Wenger Reveals Squad But Rules Duo Out Of Reading Clash

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of Tuesday night’s EFL Cup fourth round clash with Reading.

The Frenchman confirmed that Santi Cazorla has once again been ruled out after missing Saturday’s Premier League stalemate with Middlesbrough due to an achilles problem.

The midfielder suffered the injury during the second half of our 6-0 victory over Ludogorets in the Champions League last week and there has been no indication as to when he’ll be available again.

Wenger also said that Aaron Ramsey is still unavailable as he’s not considered fit enough to return to action having only recently resumed full training following a hamstring injury that’s kept him on the sidelines since the opening weekend of the season.

However, there was some positive news as the boss revealed that Olivier Giroud will return to the squad tomorrow after overcoming a toe injury that’s plagued him since the middle of September.

Wenger also revealed his squad news and he’ll once again name a weakened side in the League Cup with Gabriel, Rob Holding, Carl Jenkinson and Kieran Gibbs set to make-up the back-four.

Youngster Jeff Reine-Adelaide will get a chance to impress as he joins Alex Iwobi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in the side while summer signing Lucas Perez is also set to make just his third start for the club.

Here is what Wenger told Arsenal.com this afternoon:

on the latest team news…
Cazorla will not be available, but it looked after the game that apart from some tired legs and disappointed minds, we had nothing else to declare.

on Giroud and Ramsey…
I think Olivier will be included, but for Aaron it is too early although he is back in full training now.

on his squad against Reading…
It will be a similar squad to against Nottingham Forest. We will have Gabriel, Holding, Jenkinson will be back and will play. Jeff Reine-Adelaide will play, otherwise I think Iwobi, Lucas, Oxlade-Chamberlain will also play. Gibbs – who captained the team at Forest – will do it again on Tuesday.

It’s a big boost to have Giroud back in the squad and hopefully he can get a few minutes under his belt while it’s also good to see Jenkinson making an appearance for the first team after overcoming a serious knee injury.

Despite making a number of changes to the side that played against Middlesbrough on Saturday, we’re still able to field a strong team tomorrow and I’d also expect Mohamed Elneny and Emi Martinez to feature along with the players Arsene named above.