Arsenal Team News & Injury Update: Koscielny, Vermaelen & More….

Arsenal take on London rivals Fulham on Saturday lunchtime looking to register their first Premier League points of the new season following defeat to Aston Villa on the opening weekend.

Ahead of the game boss Arsene Wenger has given Arsenal.com a team news and injury update following Wednesday nights 3-0 win over Fenerbache.

The win came at a cost as defender Laurent Koscielny was forced off after taking a kick to his face and after going to hospital to receive stitches, Koscielny was able to travel home with the rest of the squad. The Frenchman is suspended for the Fulham game but Wenger hopes to have him back for the return leg against Fenerbache on Tuesday.

The boss also confirmed that we’ve picked up no further injuries but the fitness of the rest of the squad will be assessed before kick off on Saturday.

There is also good news on Ryo Miyaichi with the Japanese winger back in training and close to making a return to action. Defender Thomas Vermaelen is also back running after recovering from a back injury but it will be a few weeks yet until he’s back to full fitness.

Here’s what Wenger told the clubs official website:

on Laurent Koscielny…

He’s like a boxer who had a hard fight the night before; lots of blood around his eye and a deep cut. He is suspended for Saturday anyway but let’s hope he recovers for next Tuesday [against Fenerbahce]. It will be short because the cut is very deep. Hopefully it will be alright.

on other team news…

The news is quite positive at the moment. Of course we have some players who I will need to consider because of the accumulation of the international game and then the Premier League and Champions League matches. I will have to make a deeper analysis tomorrow and on Saturday morning.

on Ryo…

He is back in full training now. He will be involved this season in the first-team squad. Hopefully very soon because he’s now getting fit.

on Vermaelen…

He is out running. He’s on the pitches again. But there’s still a good few weeks to go for him to get his fitness. We have Nacho back and Thomas soon back so that’s all good news for us.

We’re down to the bare bones at the back this weekend and Bacary Sagna is going to have to play in the middle alongside Per Mertesacker. Let’s pray we don’t pick up any more injuries at the back because our squad simply can’t cope.

With Tottenham on the horizon the last thing we need is another injury, so fingers crossed we come through the weekends action unscathed and we might just have a few new faces for when Spurs arrive next weekend!

Now we’ve seen the team news, what would be your starting eleven for the Fulham game? Share yours below.