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Wenger confirms major injury boost ahead of Tottenham showdown

By mac14 on September 22, 2015

Arsene Wenger has confirmed a major injury boost ahead of our Capital One Cup third round clash with Per Mertesacker passed fit for the trip to Tottenham.

Mertesacker has missed our last five games with a troublesome virus that’s kept him on the sidelines for well over a month.

The German international returned to training last week but was still not deemed fit enough to return to the squad for our games at Dinamo Zagreb or Chelsea.

However, we’ve been handed a timely boost with the boss confirming this afternoon that Per is now considered fit and available for selection against Spurs.

The giant centre-back is expected to come in for Gabriel in defence as he’s facing a suspension following his sending off against Chelsea.

His appeal will be heard today but let’s face it, there’s no way the FA will rescind the card entirely, so the best we can hope for is a reduction on the three-game ban. Either way, Gabriel is almost certain to miss the Tottenham game.

He’ll join Francis Coquelin on the sidelines as the boss has confirmed he will miss the trip to White Hart Lane with a knee injury.

The midfielder suffered the problem during the first half of our defeat to Chelsea and it will be further assessed before any official diagnosis is given.

Arsene seems confident it’s not a serious issue but we’ve heard that one before, so fingers crossed Francis is given the all-clear.

Here is Wenger’s update that he gave Arsenal.com this afternoon:

He [Mertesacker] is available for selection, yes.

Francis Coquelin will be out and we have no major problems for anybody else. It should be a similar squad.

His knee is swollen and he is being assessed but we hope it is just a short-term problem