Arsenal Injury Update: Wenger Offers Latest On Walcott, Giroud & Debuchy

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has offered an update on the fitness of Olivier Giroud, Theo Walcott and Mathieu Debuchy after all three appeared to pick up knocks during the win over Sunderland this afternoon.

Debuchy was a surprise starter at right-back with the Frenchman making his first Premier League start in over 12 months having recently overcome a calf injury which has hampered him this season.

The 31-year-old has improved his match fitness by playing for the under-23’s in recent weeks and was deemed fit enough to start ahead of Carl Jenkinson against Sunderland today.

However, after making an encouraging start against the Black Cats, Debuchy’s latest comeback didn’t last long as he limped off after just 16 minutes with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

And it looks like the full-back is now facing another spell on the sidelines as Wenger has confirmed that Debuchy thinks the injury is a serious one – although the club will wait for him to undergo a scan to discover the full extent of the problem.

Walcott was withdrawn from the game with 15 minutes to go having given us the lead with a 53rd minute header and the attacker was seen with an ice pack on his leg on the substitutes bench, but Arsene says it was just from a kick and is nothing serious.

Giroud was seen holding his hamstring shortly after replacing Walcott and it’s something Wenger is concerned about, however, it doesn’t appear to be a serious problem as the striker was able to carry on and showed no sign of injury when setting up Alexis Sanchez for our late third goal.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

on Walcott…
Yeah, he got a kick but nothing major. The only worry we have is Giroud, he looked a little bit to touch his hamstring. We have to see how big the damage is.

on Giroud being on the ground at the end…
With the hamstring. In the first moment, he told me that he felt a twitch in the back of his hamstring and we will see. I hope it’s not too bad because he told me after that when he sprinted he didn’t feel anything.

on Debuchy…
He thinks it’s a severe one. Don’t go too far because I have to speak to medical people, but you can only assess it really after 48 hours. You have to let it bleed and after, usually they have an MRI 48 hours later to see how big the damage is.

So it looks as though the knocks to Walcott and Giroud shouldn’t be anything to worry about but it’s a real shame for Debuchy to suffer another potentially serious injury so soon after making his comeback.

With Hector Bellerin still sidelined with an ankle injury, Debuchy could have been a useful player to have available this month as the games start to come thick and fast over the festive period but it looks as though he’s now set for another spell on the treatment table.