Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Triple Injury Boost Ahead Of West Brom

Arsenal will look to get their Premier League title challenge back on track when we entertain West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates on Boxing Day.

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

The boss was pleased to confirm a huge boost with the news that Danny Welbeck will return to full first team training today after recovering from a serious knee injury.

Welbeck has been working his way back to fitness after suffering cartilage damage against Manchester City last May and he returned to light individual training earlier this month.

However, the striker is now set to take a big step in his rehabilitation by returning to full training with the rest of the squad at London Colney today as he looks to put himself in contention for a return to the squad next month.

Understandably Wenger will be cautious with Welbeck and I wouldn’t be surprised if he plays a few games for the U23’s to build up his fitness but it’s still positive news that he’s back in full training.

As long as he doesn’t suffer any setbacks over the coming weeks, hopefully the 26-year-old could be available for selection in mid-January and I think he’ll be a very useful player to have during the second half of the season.

Wenger is quoted as saying by the Mirror:

“He will return to training today which is very good news. Welbeck will need some time. Today is the first time he joins in with team training so I’m very cautious because you can have setbacks after being out for so long.”

Wenger also revealed that Aaron Ramsey is set to resume full training today after overcoming a hamstring injury that’s kept him out of our last three matches.

Ramsey will be handed a late fitness test to see if he’ll be able to take on West Brom but it will be a welcome boost if the Welsh international is available after Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was ruled out.

The midfielder was forced off with a hamstring problem during our 2-1 defeat at Manchester City last Sunday and Arsene has confirmed the 23-year-old will sit out Monday’s clash with West Brom.

However, the good news is that Wenger says the injury isn’t serious and it’s a matter of ‘days rather than weeks’ before he’ll return, meaning Oxlade-Chamberlain could be back for the visit of Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day.

Gabriel is set to continue alongside Laurent Koscielny at the back against WBA as Shkodran Mustafi is still out with a hamstring problem but he could be back in contention to face Palace in the New Year.

Wenger told Arsenal.com:

on the latest team news…
I think for Monday we lose Chamberlain from the last game against City. I don’t know if Ramsey will be involved or not but he will be back in full training today. Mustafi is still out until the beginning of January.

on Oxlade-Chamberlain…
It’s not very bad. It’s a question of days rather than weeks.

It’s a huge relief that the midfielder’s injury isn’t serious as Oxlade-Chamberlain has finally been showing some consistent form in recent weeks so it would have been a real blow had he bee ruled out for a significant period of time.