Wenger Gives Pre-Spurs Team News Update On Ozil, Ramsey, Monreal + More

Arsenal make the short trip across north London to take on rivals Tottenahm on Sunday afternoon.

Ahead of the game, boss Arsene Wenger has been speaking to the media at his press conference this morning and gave Arsenal.com a team news and injury update.

Starting with the positive news, Arsene confirmed that Nacho Monreal was definitely back in the squad after recovering from a foot injury and is now favourite to start at left-back with Kieran Gibbs still a doubt with an ankle knock.

Gunners fans may also get a chance to see January signing Kim Kallstrom for the first time this weekend after the Swede recovered from a back injury, although he will likely have to made-do with a place among the substitutes, while young striker Yaya Sanogo could return to the squad after passing a fitness test.

Wenger then confirmed that playmaker Mesut Ozil is facing between three and six weeks on the sidelines after suffering a hamstring injury during the early stages of Tuesday nights draw with Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Obviously it’s a huge blow to the Gunners to lose Ozil during this pivotal period of the season, with the German international now set to miss crucial games against Spurs, Chelsea and Swansea while he’ll also be fighting to be fit in time to face Man City, Everton and Wigan.

Aaron Ramsey had been expected to make his return from a long-term thigh injury this weekend but unfortunately he’s suffered yet another minor set-back in training and is now expected to miss a further two weeks.

Here’s what the boss told Arsenal official website:

on the team news for Sunday…

Monreal is definitely available, as for Gibbs we are not sure.

on Kallstrom…

He’s back in the squad and available for selection.

on Ozil….

He has been injured on Tuesday night and I don’t know how long exactly he will be out for but it looks a minimum of three weeks. The maximum is six.

on Sanogo…

He could be all right. He has a test yesterday which was positive.

on Ramsey…

Our worry at the moment is that Ramsey takes longer than expected. He had a first setback before and now it’s slower. It was the plan for him to join in on Thursday but he still has recurrent pains in his thigh and of course he’s now a little bit apprehensive because of the setback he had. We have to be very cautious with him. When will he be back? I believe it’s two more weeks now.

Arsenal head into the weekend sitting six points clear of fifth-place Tottenham so a win at White Hart Lane would go a long way to securing a top four finish this season, while it would also keep alive hopes of an unlikely title.

You can see my predicted starting XI here

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