Arsenal Team News: Wenger Offers Update On Ramsey, Arteta, Rosicky + More

Arsenal take on Coventry City at the Emirates Stadium on Friday night in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

Ahead of the game, boss Arsene Wenger has been speaking to the media at his press conference on Thursday morning and gave Arsenal.com a team news and injury update including the latest on the fitness of Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky and Nicklas Bendtner.

Let’s start with the good news. Wenger confirmed that Bendtner is back in the squad after returning to full training this week. The striker has missed the last three weeks after injuring his ankle while scoring the opening goal against Cardiff on New Year’s Day but is now fit and available for selection tomorrow.

However, unfortunately Arteta, Ramsey and Rosicky will not be available to face Coventry. Arteta has missed the last two games with a calf problem while Ramsey has been out for nearly a month with a thigh strain. The boss confirmed the pair will be back in the squad on Monday so should be in contention to face Southampton on Tuesday, but tomorrow’s game comes too soon.

Rosicky is also absent, presumably due to the broken nose he suffered against Aston Villa, but Wenger didn’t offer any idea of when the Czech midfielder would be back.

The boss did give us a mini update on the fitness of Yaya Sanogo as well, saying that the forgotten striker will be back in full training next week.

Here’s what he told the clubs official website:

on Bendtner…

He’s been back in the squad since the start of the week and he’s available if selected.

on Arteta and Ramsey…

Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey join the squad on Monday, they are not available for Friday’s game. We lost as well Rosicky, he’s not available.

on the squad strength…

We have just had Oxlade-Chamberlain back, Bendtner back, I hope to have Arteta back next week and Ramsey. We also have Yaya Sanogo coming back into the squad next week.

We should be able to cope with the absence of Rosicky, Arteta and Ramsey for the Coventry clash but it will be good to get them back to face the Saints next week. I think we’ll see Bendtner start tomorrow to give Olivier Giroud a rest and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should also get a run-out.

What team would you like to see start against Coventry? Share your views below.