Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Huge Quadruple Injury Blow + Ramsey Update

Arsenal get back to Premier League action this weekend when we entertain Newcastle United at the Emirates on Saturday evening.

Ahead of the game, Arsene Wenger has given Arsenal.com an injury update and unfortunately he’s revealed some disappointing news as four key players are set to miss the game while Aaron Ramsey is also a doubt.

The big news is that Wenger confirmed Laurent Koscielny is set to miss out after failing to recover from a calf injury that the Frenchman picked up against Southampton. He’s already sat out games against Stoke and Galatasaray and the hope was a 10-day rest would see the injury settle down, but the boss has revealed that the 29-year-old is unlikely to be ready this weekend.

This is a huge blow as our defence is far stronger when Koscielny plays and to make matters worse, his replacement, Nacho Monreal, is also set to miss out with a foot injury that’s troubled him in recent weeks.

With Calum Chambers suspended following his sending off against Stoke last weekend, we’re going into the Newcastle game with just one fit centre-back available. Arsene is now going to have to either move Mathieu Debuchy into the middle alongside Per Mertesacker or promote one of the youth players to the first team.

We also have problems in midfield as Mikel Arteta is going to sit this game out after failing to recover from a calf injury that’s already kept him out for four games while Aaron Ramsey will face a late fitness test on a hamstring injury that he suffered against Galatasaray on Tuesday night.

There was some positive news with Theo Walcott confirmed as being back in training for the last two days, but unfortunately the attacker is still going to be short of match fitness this weekend.

Wenger also gave another update on Jack Wilshere and has hit back at reports suggesting the midfielder has suffered a set-back, with the boss insisting Jack is ‘doing very well’ and is puzzled by the speculation that he’s set to return later than expected.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

on the team news…

Our main problems are still defensively because Laurent Koscielny (calf from Southampton match) looks like he will not be quite ready, Nacho Monreal (foot) is not back and Calum Chambers is suspended. Mikel Arteta (calf) is not ready and Theo Walcott (groin) is out. Aaron Ramsey (hamstring) will be checked today and tomorrow, so we’ll see.

on Theo Walcott…

The signs are quite good. He has had two days of training now but he now lacks competition and fitness to come back to a good level.

on reports of Jack Wilshere having a setback…

That’s completely wrong. He’s doing very well. He’s on crutches so I don’t see how he can have a setback. It’s frustrating because it’s hard enough for Jack to be injured. He doesn’t need the negative news on top of that. It’s always frustrating to deny things that are not true.

Our injury problems just don’t ever seem like they’re relenting as when one players returns, another is ruled out. Hopefully we can get through the Newcastle game with three points and with any luck, Koscielny will be back to face Liverpool next weekend.

It would also be great to have Arteta back for the festive period and I’d expect Theo should be pushing for a place in the squad next weekend once he gets a full weeks training under his belt.