Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Double Boost But At Least 4 Players Ruled Out

Arsenal desperately need to get back to winning ways when we take on Bournemouth at Dean Court on Sunday afternoon.

Arsene Wenger has been speaking to the media at his press conference today and he’s offered a team news and injury update ahead of the game.

The Gunners boss was pleased to confirm a huge injury boost with the news that Jack Wilshere’s injury isn’t serious and he could even make the trip to the South Coast this weekend.

Wilshere looked set for a spell on the sidelines after spraining his ankle during our 0-0 draw with Chelsea in the first leg of our Carabao Cup semi final at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.

However, scans have shown their to be only minor damage and Wenger says the midfielder is ‘walking normally’ so could yet be passed fit to face Bournemouth on Sunday.

In a double boost, the boss also confirmed that Aaron Ramsey will be back in the squad this weekend after recovering from a hamstring injury that’s kept him out for the last month.

Mesut Ozil missed the Carabao Cup clash with Chelsea in midweek after aggravating a knee problem and the playmaker is rated as 50-50 to return this weekend as he’s facing a late fitness test.

Otherwise, all our other injured players remain unavailable for selection but Laurent Koscielny, Nacho Monreal and Sead Kolasinac could all be back in contention next weekend.

Koscielny has been out with an Achilles injury while Monreal and Kolasinac both have ankle problems but the defensive trio should return for the visit of Crystal Palace to the Emirates.

However, striker Olivier Giroud will have to wait a little longer as he’s still two weeks away from making his return from a hamstring injury that’s kept him out for over a month.

Wenger told Arsenal.com.

on team news…
From Wednesday night, we had of course Jack, who was injured. We had very good news yesterday morning. I saw him walking normally and his scan was good. He’s not out of the game on Sunday yet, so that is positive news. We’ll have Ramsey back in the squad. We have an uncertainty over Ozil, who will have a test earliest tomorrow. That at the moment is a bit 50:50. All the other players will still be out for Bournemouth.

on Jack’s injury…
It’s his ankle. He turned his ankle when he was blocking the shot. It was more of a shock than a real ankle sprain.

on it being a relief…
It’s a big relief because sometimes we have a tendency to be a bit more dramatic than we should be. His ankles are good, we cannot say he has bad ankles now, but because of his history we always make a bit more of it.

on what Ozil’s injury is…
His knee. He had a swollen knee and a recurrence of what he had two or three weeks ago. That’s why he was not involved on Wednesday night.

on when Kolasinac, Koscielny and Monreal could return…
Koscielny next week, Kolasinac next week – though he has a little, little chance to be available. Monreal earliest next week as well.

on Olivier Giroud…
He is two weeks away.

Arsenal head to the South Coast having not won any of our last four games in all competitions and we sit sixth in the table so it’s important we come away with all three points on Sunday.