Arsenal Dealt Huge Blow As Wenger Offers Update Koscielny Injury Update

Arsenal have been dealt a major injury blow with Arsene Wenger confirming that Laurent Koscielny will be out for at least another three or four weeks.

Koscielny has been on the sidelines for over a month since aggravating his troublesome Achilles injury while away with the France squad during the international break at the start of October.

The French FA ruled him out of their Euro 2016 qualifiers against Portugal and Armenia and sent the defender back to North London after scans revealed he was suffering from chronic tendinitis in both Achilles tendons.

It was initially thought that the move was a precautionary one and Wenger said at the time that he hoped Koscielny would recover in time to face Hull City at the Emirates on October 18.

However, it soon became clear that the issue was going to take longer to clear up and the boss said last week that the 29-year-old wouldn’t play again before the next international break – which starts after Sunday’s clash with Swansea.

It had been hoped that Koscielny could feature against Manchester United on the 22nd, however, Arsene has now revealed yet more bad news on the centre-back’s fitness after telling reporters yesterday that as he’s not yet running outside, there’s no chance he’ll be ready to face the former champions in just two weeks time.

The good news is Kos doesn’t require surgery, but the boss believes it’s going to be at least three to four weeks before he’s back in contention.

“He has not started running outside so you cannot think he will be available in two weeks’ time,” Wenger said.

“Then, you have to see how he responds to going outside and running. He is not there yet anyway. He cannot run. He will not be available for three or four weeks.”

“It’s just inflammation. Too much French salami. He won’t need surgery. His achilles on the scans are quite good. He could not go on, so we had no choice.” Wenger is quoted as saying by the Guardian

This is obviously a huge blow as we’ve sorely missed Koscielny in recent weeks and with our lack of options at the back, Wenger has been forced to play Nacho Monreal as a make-shift centre-back.

The Spaniard has done a reasonable job but I always felt it was a matter of time before he cost us a goal and unfortunately that time came during Tuesday’s shambolic 3-3 draw with Anderlecht when Monreal gave away a penalty for the crucial second goal.

The worry is that Koscielny’s injury could actually take even longer than a month as his return date has already been put back three times, so if he suffers a set-back when he does eventually return to full training then we’re going to be in serious trouble.

Koscielny is already set to miss upcoming games against Swansea, United, Dortmund, WBA, Southampton, Stoke and Galatasaray, while any longer than a month and he’s in danger of also being ruled out of key games against Newcastle and Liverpool as we head in to the hectic festive period. So lets pray he suffers no more setbacks and gets back to action swiftly.