Arsene Wenger Offers Positive Fitness Update On Arsenal Star

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Danny Welbeck has not picked up an injury and his substitution last night was pre-planned.

Welbeck has endured a frustrating campaign so far as a hip injury kept him out for four games before he picked up a groin injury just 61 minutes in to his comeback against Watford last month.

The attacker returned to full training during the recent international break and was an unused substitute during our North London Derby victory over Tottenham last weekend.

Welbeck made just his seventh start of the season during our Europa League group stage clash with Cologne last night and looked lively during the opening forty-five minutes.

The 26-year-old didn’t appear after the break and was substituted for Alex Iwobi sparking fears he may have picked up a fresh injury or even aggravated his old groin problem.

However, Wenger has moved to play down those fears after revealing that Welbeck’s substitution was pre-planned as they felt it was too risky to play him for longer that forty-five minutes.

Understandably, Welbeck was frustrated to come off at half-time but with three Premier League games coming up this week, Wenger felt it was sensible to protect the attacker.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

“It was planned before the game that he would only play 45 minutes,”

“He has only just come back from injury, and we have three more games on Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday again. Medically, the risk was a bit too high to play him for longer because he has been out for a while.

“He has no problem. Of course, he was ready to stay on and frustrated to come off, but he’s in good shape.”

It’s a big relief to hear that Welbeck is fine as the England international is a very useful player to have in the squad with so many games coming up over the next few weeks.

Unfortunately Danny’s comeback game ended in disappointment as we slumped to a 1-0 defeat to Cologne thanks to a controversial penalty midway through the second half.

Despite the loss, we still secured top spot in Group H as the other game ended goalless but no doubt Wenger will be desperate to get back to winning ways at Burnley on Sunday afternoon.