Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Major Triple Injury Boost But Attacker Still Out

Arsenal get back to Premier League action this weekend as they welcome Stoke City to the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

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

The boss was pleased to announce that we’ve been handed a major triple injury boost with Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Flamini all back in training and available for the game on Sunday.

Ramsey has been on the sidelines for the last month after picking up a hamstring strain during our win away at Galatasaray in early December, but the Welshman is now back in full training and in contention to feature against Stoke.

Ozil hasn’t played since suffering a serious knee ligament injury against Chelsea in early October but the German returned to full training two weeks ago and is now ready to make his first team comeback – although Arsene hasn’t decided whether he’ll start him or ease him back in to action from the bench.

Flamini is also due to return having missed the last three games with a groin injury that he suffered during our win over West Ham at Upton Park last month, while in a further boost, Olivier Giroud is available again having served his three-match ban following his sending off against QPR.

The only piece of bad team news is that Danny Welbeck remains on the sidelines with a thigh injury that he suffered against West Ham, but the attacker should be back in contention to face Manchester City next weekend.

Here is what the boss told the clubs website:

on the latest updates…

The team news is that Ramsey (hamstring) is back in training, Ozil (knee) is back in training and Flamini (groin) is back in training. We’ve got three players back. Welbeck (thigh) is still not available for Sunday because he is a bit short. Maybe next week he will be available. Giroud is back from suspension. So we have a bigger squad than last week.

on when Ozil could play…

He will have a training session on Friday with the squad. He will certainly be available for selection on Sunday. Will I start him or not? I haven’t decided yet.

So after months of frustration, our injury crisis appears to be easing. With Ramsey, Flamini and Ozil now back and Welbeck due to join them next week, the only absentees are Jack Wilshere and Mikel Arteta, while Abou Diaby and Serge Gnabry continue their long-term battle for fitness.