Arsenal Confirm Major Injury Blow: Cazorla To Miss 3 Months Following Surgery

Arsenal have been dealt a huge injury blow after releasing a statement on Arsenal.com confirming that Santi Cazorla requires surgery and will be out for around three months.

Cazorla has been on the sidelines since aggravating a long-standing Achilles injury during our 6-0 Champions League win over Ludogorets at the Emirates on October 19th.

Arsene Wenger had initially hoped that the midfielder would only be out for the short-term but the injury has proven difficult to shift as the inflammation around his ankle has refused to subside despite Cazorla undergoing a rehabilitation programme.

The boss revealed earlier this week that he had no idea when Santi would be available again as the injury had still not progressed and rumours began circulating earlier today that the 31-year-old may require surgery.

The club have now confirmed on Arsenal.com that Cazorla has been advised to undergo the knife and will travel to Sweden early next week to have an operation on the plantaris tendon in his right ankle.

Following the surgery, the club say that Cazorla is expected to make a full recovery in approximately three months, so it looks as though we won’t be seeing the Spanish international until well in to 2017.

The news has come as a major blow to our Premier League title hopes as Cazorla has been sorely missed over the past six weeks and he’ll continue to be until he finally makes his return at some point next year.

It’s no coincidence that our performances have tailed off since Cazorla has been on the sidelines and I can only hope that Wenger will now give Granit Xhaka a more prominent role in the first team over the coming months.