Arsenal Team News Update: Wenger On Wilshere, Ozil & Flamini

Arsenal take on Crystal Palace in Saturday’s early kick off looking to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to five points.

Ahead of the game, boss Arsene Wenger has been in front of the media giving his pre-match press conference and gave Arsenal.com a team news and injury update.

The good news is that midfielder Mathieu Flamini is back in contention having missed the 2-1 defeat to Borussia Dortmund due to concussion which was picked up after a nasty clash of heads against Norwich last weekend.

However, Jack Wilshere is a slight doubt to face Palace after being forced off in midweek with an ankle knock. Wenger confirmed the young midfielder will be assessed by the clubs medical team before a decision is made over his involvement this weekend.

Thankfully, there are no other injury concerns and the likes of Theo Walcott, Lukas Podolski and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain continue to be on the sidelines.

The boss told the clubs official website:

on Flamini and Wilshere…

Flamini is available. He had no basic injury – it was just a precaution. Wilshere (ankle) will be checked later by the medical people and we’ll see if I will involve him or not.

on the rest of the squad…

Everybody else is available.

Wenger was also quizzed on Mesut Ozil after a rather subdued performance against Dortmund, and the boss revealed that the playmaker was suffering from illness in the run up to the game which explained why he was not at his best.

“He was sick before the game and he was not at his best on the night,” revealed Wenger. “He said he felt alright, but in the two days before he had a virus and you could see that physically he was not at his best.

“Dortmund were organised to stop us from playing our game and one of their game plans was to stop Ozil to get in the game. They did that well. On top of that, Ozil was not at his best physically on Tuesday night.” [source: ESPN]

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