Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Triple Boost Ahead Of West Ham + Cazorla Update

Arsenal will look to get back to winning ways in the Premier League when we welcome West Ham to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Arsene Wenger has been speaking to the media at his pre-match press conference this morning and he’s provided a team news and injury update ahead of the game.

The boss gave the latest on Aaron Ramsey after the midfielder missed our 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United last weekend due to a nasty gash on his lower leg.

Ramsey sustained the injury during the first half of our Europa League draw at CSKA Moscow last Thursday but was able to complete the game after having the wound stapled shut by the medial team.

Wenger decided not to risk the midfielder against Newcastle but says that while Ramsey isn’t in full training just yet, he will still be available for Sunday’s visit of West Ham.

The boss also confirmed that David Ospina is back in contention after recovering from an ankle injury that’s kept him out of the last four matches in all competitions.

In a triple boost, Wenger provided a positive update on Henrikh Mkhitaryan after revealing that the attacker has a chance to feature against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of our Europa League semi-final.

Mkhitaryan has missed our last three games after damaging knee ligaments during the quarter-final first leg victory over CSKA Moscow and there were initial fears he may miss the rest of the season.

However, Wenger says the Armenian international is already back running again and will be assessed over the coming days to see if he’ll be available to face Atletico on Thursday.

The boss also gave an update on Jack Wilshere and the midfielder is a doubt to face West Ham on Sunday due to a minor ankle injury that kept him out of the trip to St James’ Park last weekend.

Wenger told Arsenal.com:

on team news…
We have some uncertainties about Wilshere. Of course Mkhitaryan is not back yet. Ospina is available again.

on Ramsey and the cut on his leg…
He has not participated in full training but he’s practising in non-contact, so he will be available for Sunday.

on Wilshere…
It’s a short-term one, a little ankle problem.

on Mkhitaryan…
Mkhitaryan is running again. He has to progress in the next three or four days to see how much intensity he can have in his training sessions.

on expected return for Mkhitaryan…
Possibly Thursday is the earliest I think.

Wenger also provided an update on Santi Cazorla and says the midfielder is progressing well with his recovery from a serious ankle injury that’s kept him out for over 18 months.

Cazorla is currently in Spain undergoing his rehabilitation programme but Wenger says he’ll be back in north London before the end of the season to be assessed and a final decision will be made over his future.

Wenger is quoted as saying by Football.London:

“I haven’t seen him since the League Cup final. He has gone back [to Spain] to do his rehab,”

“We leave him to that but the last news I’ve heard is he is doing very well. He will come back before the end of the season and we will make a check and see where he stands.

“Can he play again in the Premier League? I don’t know, we will have to see how he responds to his injury.”

“We missed him a lot in our game. He is an exceptional football player. It’s very sad what’s happened to him and very sad for Arsenal as well what happened to him.”

Cazorla’s contract expires in June and as much as we’d all love to see him make a full recovery and play for Arsenal again, he’s 33 and it’s highly unlikely he’ll ever reach the levels he was at before this career-threatening injury so a new contract just doesn’t make sense.