Wenger Confirms Double Injury Boost Ahead Of Man Utd + Latest On Ozil & Koscielny

Premier League action returns this weekend as Arsenal entertain Manchester United at the Emirates on Saturday evening. Here, Gooner Mac brings us the latest team news from Arsene Wenger.

The boss has been speaking to Arsenal.com ahead of the United game and gave an update on the fitness of Mikel Arteta, Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny, Mathieu Debuchy and Mesut Ozil.

Wenger confirmed the double boost that both Giroud and Arteta have been passed fit to play this weekend. Arteta has been nursing a hamstring injury that he suffered against Anderlecht but is now back in contention and could replace Mathieu Flamini in midfield.

Giroud on the other hand is back a month ahead of schedule after breaking a bone in his ankle against Everton back in August but it remains to be seen whether he’s considered fit enough to start. My feeling is the Frenchman will be among the substitutes with Danny Welbeck once again leading the line.

Wenger also revealed that Koscielny and Debuchy are back in light training as they continue to recover from Achilles and Ankle injuries respectively. It’s going to be another three weeks before the pair are back in full training and then it will be a case of building up their fitness before being considered for a first team return.

The final update from the boss was on Ozil and he confirmed that the German international playmaker won’t feature again before the turn of the year, so he remains our long-term injury concern.

Here is what Arsene told the clubs website:

on Giroud and Arteta…

Giroud and Arteta are both available. It’s just a question of how ready they are. But they are available.

on Giroud…

He is three or four weeks ahead of schedule. Originally we planned to have him back for competition at the beginning of next year. So he’s one month ahead.

on relying on Welbeck while Giroud was out…

Yes, and on Sanchez as well. But we have Giroud back, we have Walcott back. Slowly they will integrate into the team again and give us different options.

on Koscielny and Debuchy…

Koscielny and Debuchy are doing well, they are out on the field [working] again. We have to see now. Usually field work is three weeks away from full group training. Then there is fitness. It looks straightforward for Debuchy. It’s not inflammation, it’s just repairing surgery. For Koscielny, it depends how well he responds to training. At the moment he looks good.

on Ozil…

Ozil is doing well but he will not be ready before the start of 2015.

Check out my predicted Arsenal starting eleven here

It’s a big boost to have Giroud back in the squad as he’ll give us another vital option up front and it’s also a relief for Arteta to be available again. We’re not the same team without him in the side as Flamini is a limited player so hopefully the Spaniard is deemed fit enough to start this weekend.