Arsenal Pre-Swansea Injury & Team News Update: Gibbs, Sagna, Podolski & More…

Arsenal get back to domestic action on Saturday looking to put Wednesday nights Champions League exit to Bayern Munich behind them as they travel to Wales to take on League Cup winners Swansea City.

Ahead of the game, boss Arsene Wenger has given a team news and injury update to Arsenal.com with the latest on Kieran Gibbs, Bacary Sagna and Lukas Podolski’s injury situations.

The bad news is it looks like we’re going to be without all three for the trip to the Liberty Stadium. Sagna and Podolski both missed the 2-0 win over Bayern in midweek and the boss has confirmed the duo will not be back in time to face the Swans.

Gibbs returned on Wednesday after six weeks out with a thigh strain and Wenger also revealed that the defender has had a small reaction and looks like he may also miss this weekends action. However, his absence is counteracted by the return of Nacho Monreal – who was ineligible to play in midweek.

Apart from the loss of Jack Wilshere, we have no other injury concerns. Here is what Arsene Wenger told the clubs official website:

on team news…

Sagna and Podolski will not be back. And Wilshere, as we know, is out as well. So the only one who will come back is Monreal because he was not qualified for the Champions League.

on Kieran Gibbs…

I think he will be out on Saturday. He had a little reaction on his thigh. He is not injured but we have to be cautious with it. He might be out.

on the squad’s fitness…

Apart from that everyone who played [at Bayern] should be OK. There are bumps and bruises after a game of that intensity but that should be it.

The loss of Gibbs is unfortunate as it would have been good to see the same back-five play again. They all deserve to keep their place after their heroics in Munich but Monreal is more than capable of stepping in. Otherwise I’d expect few changes from the side that beat the Germans as the squad is looking a little thin again with the latest crop of injuries.

Now we’ve had the team news, what would be your preferred starting eleven for the Swansea game? Get involved in the comments section below.