Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Triple Injury Blow + Update On Debuchy

Arsenal are in Germany ahead of tomorrow nights Champions League group stage opener against Borussia Dortmund at the Westfalenstadion.

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

Unfortunately, Wenger confirmed that Nacho Monreal has failed to make the trip due to a minor back injury. The Spaniard will therefore sit out tomorrow’s match but is expected to be fit for Saturday’s game at Aston Villa.

The boss also revealed that Calum Chambers is struggling to shake off a bout of tonsillitis and is rated at just 50-50 to play tomorrow. It would be a big blow if he misses out as the 19-year-old is expected to replace Mathieu Debuchy at right back.

The French international is reportedly set to be ruled out for at least two months after damaging ankle ligaments during the closing stages of Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City, and although Arsene confirmed the defender is looking at an extended spell on the sidelines, he doesn’t yet know precisely how long for.

The final update from Wenger concerned Yaya Sanogo with the young striker failing to make the trip to Germany due to a small hamstring complaint, but he probably wouldn’t have made the bench even if fit.

Here’s what Arsene told the clubs official website:

on the team news…

Monreal didn’t travel and we have a little problem with Chambers but he should be alright. Monreal has a back problem, he should be available on Friday. We’ll assess Chambers tomorrow morning. At the moment he’s 50/50 with tonsillitis.

Apart from that everyone is here, I don’t think I forget anybody apart from Debuchy, who is out for a longer period. Sanogo stayed at home as well with a little hamstring problem.

on Debuchy’s injury…

We don’t know [how long he will be out for yet].

on whether his resources are stretched…

In defence the Debuchy injury puts us a little bit in a situation where we do not want more. Hopefully we will have good news after he has a scan and that he will be back soon. We have Chambers who can play in different positions, Monreal can play centre back and we also have Bellerin who I think is now ready to play.

Lets hope Chambers is able to play as otherwise our options at the back are extremely thin on the ground. Hector Bellerin would no doubt have to start at right-back but the main issue would be the lack of cover at center half if anything was to happen to Laurent Koscielny or Per Mertesacker.

The loss of Monreal is also a blow as it means we have one less option but Kieran Gibbs can step in at left-back and young Isaac Hayden will most likely be on the bench if Chambers is ruled out.