Wenger Provides Latest Injury Updates On Ramsey, Walcott & Ozil
Arsenal’s slow start to this new season cannot be dissociated from the cases of injuries that has bedevilled the North London club as some key players like Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta, Kieran Gibbs, Nacho Monreal and Laurent Koscielny have been in and out of the treatment room at London Colney. However, other than the long term injuries to Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy and now Mesut Ozil, all other players injured have been on short term basis. Ahead of the next Arsenal’s English Premier League encounter with Hull City on the 18th of October, Arsene Wenger has given injury updates concerning Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey, Theo Walcott, Serge Gnabry and Mesut Ozil.
Theo Walcott, who got injured in the FA Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspurs in January, had been very steady in his recovery of a severe knee injury whilst Serge Gnabry has been out since April also with a knee complaint. However, the return of the two forwards seems very near as the manager has said: ‘‘Theo is not too far away now. Serge has been out for a long, long time and Theo has also been out for nine months, so it’s good to see them back. They’ve worked very hard and they are very dedicated. They are back in the group on a daily basis and that’s very good news.’’ to the club’s website Arsenal.com. It was thought that Arsene Wenger would give the players a couple of games with the U21s before considering him for first team action this October. It is the second time that Arsene Wenger would speak about Serge Gnabry’s injury this season. It became very worrying among the fans that no injury update has been given on the promising forward but now, all fears have been allayed.
On Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta, who both got injured in the 1-1 North London derby against Tottenham Hotspurs, the manager said: ‘‘For Ramsey, it’s day 13 today and I think it will be day 21 before he is back into training. Arteta may be back with the group late next week.’’ However, Arsenal’s record signing, Mesut Ozil, is the latest injured player in the Arsenal squad. The 25-year-old German midfielder travelled to Munich to have an MRI scan on a knee problem and is said to have suffered a knee ligament injury. The player who joined up with the Joachim Lowe managed Germany national squad will miss their Euro 2016 qualifier this weekend and though news filtering in around the media have put his time out on the sidelines to be at least 3 months i.e. 12 weeks, Arsene Wenger said: ‘‘When he arrived with the German national team, they didn’t think it was a lot at the start. He was supposed to practice on Wednesday but, in the end, he said that wasn’t possible for him. Then he had a scan and it was bad news. We have our own specialist giving us his opinion after reading the scan and examining Mesut. We will follow our recommendations.’’
It is not likely that the Shad Forsythe recommendations would be different from what the German national team physiotherapists say because of the close working relationship between Forsythe and his successor with the world cup winning squad.