Arsenal now have three players out going into their FA Cup game on Saturday against non-League Lincoln City.
Santi Cazorla (ankle)
Last week, Arsene Wenger confirmed what we’d all been fearing: it looks like Santi Cazorla is out for the whole season.
Speaking ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Liverpool, the manager acknowledged that although he’s not an expert, he doesn’t reckon the Spaniard will be back this season.
“It is very frustrating for us because, at the start of the season, he was maybe the star of the team,” he said.
“Overall it is a big loss for us but I am especially sad for him. For a guy who loves football, when football is so natural, he suffers a lot not to be on the pitch.
“I am not specialised enough [to know if he’s out for the season],” added the boss. “It’s a special problem on his calf. At the moment, the only thing I can say because I have not seen him in training, not even in fitness work, is that he’ll be short [to return this season].”
Mohamed Elneny (calf)
The midfielder is still sidelined with a calf injury.
Since he shared a photo and video of him working out in a protective boot, it’s gone a bit quiet. However, he was expected out for three weeks after being subbed off during the Sutton game, which was only 16 days ago.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQ-nsxmjij5/?taken-by=elnennym&hl=en
Elneny will therefore miss the Lincoln match.
Danny Welbeck (illness)
The striker was ruled out of the Bayern clash at the last moment due to illness.
Despite a few ‘ITK’s on Twitter claiming he’d injured his arm during the warm-up, Welbz himself took to Twitter to confirm that he wasn’t hurt, just ill.
How ill, we don’t know or whether he’ll miss the Lincoln game, we also don’t know at the time of writing.
No injury, no tweak, just ill at the wrong moment. Devastated I couldn't play tonight.
— Danny Welbeck (@DannyWelbeck) March 7, 2017
Mesut Ozil (illness)
The German started on the bench for the Arsenal v Bayern clash on Tuesday night after being sent home early from training by club doctors due to illness and missing the trip to Liverpool last week.
The midfielder was introduced in the 72nd minute for Olivier Giroud.
Oddly, Wenger was the one to say that Ozil wouldn’t be ready to be included in the squad at all as he apparently still wasn’t well despite taking part in a training session.
“He is not in the squad, he only had one session yesterday and he was sick – he was out the whole of last week and I don’t think he is ready physically to be in the squad,” the boss said about Ozil. “He should be okay for the weekend.”
If the 28-year-old will therefore be available to face Lincoln.
Alex Iwobi (illness)
Everyone’s ill at the moment! Iwobi was ruled out of the Bayern squad after reportedly picking up a mystery illness. At the time of writing, there’s been no update on how ill he is or whether he’ll be available for Lincoln.
Arsenal v Bayern team sheet. Iwobi ill, Ozil promoted to the bench after one training session. pic.twitter.com/hFCQAO9NR2
— John Cross (@johncrossmirror) March 7, 2017
Stephy Mavididi (hamstring)
The youth player has been ruled out for four months after he injured his hamstring while on loan at Charlton and needed surgery.
Although we’re not sure whether Mavididi has undergone said surgery yet, his former manager at Charlton, Karl Robinson, recently sang his praises.
“He was an absolute credit to Arsenal football club while he was here; talented, grounded and driven to be successful,” Robinson told Starsport.
“He’ll be a loss for Charlton but most importantly the kid can’t play football for 14 weeks. I’m more worried about that in some ways.”