Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey will probably ‘be short’ for Arsenal’s Premier League match against Leicester on Friday.

Arsenal’s 2017/18 Premier League season kicks off with a late game against 2015/16 champions Leicester on Friday 11 August.

While Arsene Wenger’s side will be favourites going into the tie, since the Foxes finished in mid-table last term, the Frenchman doesn’t have a fully fit squad by any means.

Wenger has confirmed that both Ozil and Ramsey, who were missing from Sunday’s Community Shield win over Chelsea, will most probably ‘be short’ for the match on Friday.

“Look I left them all out because some were short, like Alexis Sanchez,” Wenger said after Arsenal’s 4-1 penalty shoot-out win, reports the Evening Standard. “Mesut got a kick on his ankle, he couldn’t play, couldn’t practice yesterday. He has a little chance to play on Friday night.

“Ramsey has a chance to play but I think he’ll be short as well.”

In Wenger-speak, this means they’re almost definitely out.

Hopefully, the two midfielders are just carrying minor injuries and won’t be out for too long considering how influential they both can be.

Also sidelined is Francis Coquelin, who got injured in the Emirates Cup, Gabriel, who suffered a cruciate knee ligament injury against Everton last term, and Santi Cazorla, who is still recovering from multiple ankle surgeries.

Per Mertesacker suffered a nasty-looking head injury against Chelsea when he collided with Gary Cahill’s elbow but other than a lot of blood and some gnarly stitches, Wenger claims he’s fine.

Alexis Sanchez and Shkodran Mustafi most likely won’t be fit enough to take part given their late return to training. Both featured in the Confederations Cup final for Chile and Germany respectively.

The starting line-up against Leicester will probably look very similar to the XI that stepped out against Antonio Conte’s side at the weekend.