Arsene Wenger held his first press conference of the season on Friday morning and gave updates on who’s in and who’s out in the Arsenal injury hokey-kokey.
Per Mertesacker, as we already knew, will be out for four months. It’s not yet clear if that will be four ordinary or Arsenal months.
"Mertesacker is out for four months, Gabriel for six to eight weeks, a bit better than expected and he doesn't need surgery." #AFC
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) August 12, 2016
On injuries: "I have a few options you have seen in pre-season. The players we have are quite young but have a great desire to do well" #AFC
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) August 12, 2016
Jack Wilshere will also miss the game as he continues to recover from the patella problem that was only supposed to keep him out for a week.
Laurent Koscielny will also miss out as will Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil as they get back to match fitness after the Euros.
"We lost three centre-backs, Koscielny is not ready. I believe we are equipped to do well." #AFC
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) August 12, 2016
Arsenal aren’t the only ones to have injury concerns ahead of the game with Liverpool suffering as well. The boss was asked about the fixture coming at the start of the season, when it’s clear neither squad is ready because of the Euros:
"It is not necessarily what Liverpool wanted or what we wanted. The fixtures are what they are and you have to deal with it." #AFC
— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) August 12, 2016