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More injury woe for Arsenal as Wenger reveals setback

By on January 7, 2017

per mertesacker arsenal

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confirmed a fresh injury blow with the news that Per Mertesacker has been ruled out for another 3-4 weeks after suffering a calf injury.

Mertesacker is yet to feature this campaign after suffering a knee ligament injury during a pre-season friendly against Lens back in July.

The German giant worked hard to come through a gruelling rehabilitation programme and returned to full training last month with the aim of finally getting back on the pitch at the turn of the new year.

However, Wenger has now revealed that Per suffered a calf injury in training and while the centre-back is still able to undertake light training, Mertesacker is still at least three weeks away from being in contention.

Arsene told Arsenal.com:

on Mertesacker being close to a return…

No. He had a little calf problem. He’s on the pitch but not close. He’s still three or four weeks away, not more.

The news will be a bitter blow to Mertesacker as he’s been working hard to get himself in shape following his knee injury but he’s now going to have to wait a little while longer before he’ll be able to make his first appearance of the season.

Thankfully we have decent cover in the middle of defence with Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny forming a solid partnership while Gabriel has impressed when he’s played and youngster Rob Holding will hopefully set to be given a run-out in the FA Cup this evening.