Arsenal Injury News: Wenger Offers Update On Cazorla, Wilshere & Gabriel

Arsene Wenger has offered an injury update ahead of this weekend’s Emirates Cup with the Arsenal boss providing the latest on the fitness of Santi Cazorla, Gabriel and Jack Wilshere.

We take on Benfica on Saturday afternoon before entertaining Sevilla the following day during the two-day tournament but obviously Cazorla won’t be involved as he continues to recover from a serious Achilles issue.

Cazorla has been on the sidelines since aggravating the long-standing problem during our Champions League win over Ludogorets back in October 2016 and he’s had to undergo a series of operations to try and fix the injury.

The Spaniard has suffered a number of set-backs during his rehabilitation and is slowly working his way back to full fitness but Wenger is understandably reluctant to put a time-frame on his return.

Gabriel is also still several weeks away from being considered fit and available for selection as he continues to recover from a knee injury that he sustained during the final day of last season.

The Brazilian defender suffered ligament damage during our win over Everton and was initially ruled out for up to two months but it looks he’s going to take a little longer to recover than first anticipated.

Wilshere is another player who’ll miss out this weekend as he continues to recover from a fractured leg that he suffered in April while away on loan at AFC Bournemouth.

The midfielder has progressed well in his recovery and was photographed doing light ball work at London Colney earlier this week, and Wenger says the 25-year-old is now close to returning to full first team training.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

on Gabriel…
I would say that Gabriel is still a few weeks away because he has an inflammation of his bone.

on Jack Wilshere…
Jack Wilshere is close to coming back to training.

on Santi Cazorla…
For Santi, it is difficult to set a definite date but he is getting better every day.

on other fitness issues…
Overall those are the main injuries we have. Everyone else is back to fitness.

We should have a strong squad of players available this weekend but Shkodran Mustafi won’t be involved as he’s only due to return to pre-season training on Sunday following his exploits at the Confederations Cup this summer.

Alexis Sanchez is also scheduled to resume training this weekend but the Chilean international’s return is in doubt after he posted a photo of Instagram saying he was feeling sick.