Arsenal Team News: Wenger Confirms Injury Boost + Offers Update On Cazorla

It’s FA Cup weekend so Arsenal don’t play their next game until Tuesday night when we take on Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium in the Premier League.

However, Arsene Wenger still held his pre-match press conference today and the boss has provided an early team news and injury update ahead of our trip to Wales.

Wenger was pleased to confirm that Olivier Giroud should be back in the squad to face Swansea after recovering from a hamstring injury that’s kept him on the sidelines for over a month.

The Frenchman has been linked with a move away from the Emirates Stadium but as long as nothing happens before Tuesday, it seems Wenger is ready to recall Giroud to the squad.

However, Danny Welbeck won’t be in contention to face Swansea next week as the 27-year-old is still nursing a muscle injury that’s kept him out of action in recent weeks.

The only other injury absentee is Santi Cazorla and Wenger says the midfielder is due to return to London Colney to continue his rehabilitation following his latest surgery.

Cazorla hasn’t played since October 2016 due to a career-threatening Achilles injury but he recently said he’s hoping to be back playing again at the top level at some point this year.

After such a long time out, Wenger was cautious not to commit to any time-scale and says he has no idea if Cazorla will play again before the end of the season.

The boss told Arsenal.com:

on the early team news…
Giroud should be back in the squad for Swansea. For Welbeck, it’s too early. That’s basically it.

on Santi Cazorla…
The latest news is that he is supposed to come back now. He had his latest surgery and we have to see where we go from there.

on whether he will play this season…
I sent him a message two weeks ago and wished him well, hoping to see him soon. He has not come back yet because he has just had surgery. The medical people know much better than I do whether he will play again in 2018 before the end of the season. Before the end of the season will be hard for him.

on whether Santi will make it back to the top level…
That is why I tell you it is a complicated situation because first of all we love him, second of all he is a great football player but the third situation is that you need to be healthy today to play at the intensity that is needed in the Premier League. So we have to see if he can absorb that or not.

If I was a betting man, I’d guess that not only will Cazorla not play again this season but I’d be surprised if he was able to play top level football again after such a serious injury. It’s a sad situation and I’d hate to see Santi career end like this but with his contract up in June, I honestly don’t think we’ll see him play for Arsenal again.