Arsenal Pre-Liverpool Team News: Wenger on Sanchez, Rosicky & Ospina

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Image: Mirror

Arsene Wenger has given a full team news update ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Anfield to take on Liverpool on Wednesday night.

The boss revealed that David Ospina is due to have a late fitness test after missing the FA Cup win over Sunderland with a minor groin injury.

Wenger rates his chances of being passed fit as 60/40 but either way, the best he can hope for is a place on the bench as Petr Cech will start against Liverpool.

There was some positive news on Tomas Rosicky as the midfielder is finally on the comeback trail after returning to full training following over six months on the sidelines with a knee injury.

It’s not clear when Tomas will be available for selection but it’s great to have another player of his quality back from injury and hopefully he’ll be back on the pitch soon.

The final update from Arsene was on Alexis Sanchez and unfortunately our star man is not going to be fit enough to make his comeback against Liverpool.

Alexis has been out for over six weeks with a hamstring injury and there were hopes he could be fit enough to return to the squad on Wednesday as he’s been in training for over a week, but it looks like he’s now going to have to wait until Sunday’s trip to Stoke.

Here is what Arsene told Arsenal.com:

on the team news…

We will have to test Ospina who was not available on Saturday. We have Rosicky back in training so the situation is getting better.

on Ospina…

Ospina is a muscular issue and we have to check if he will be available or not. Overall I think he has a 60/40 chance to make it.

on Tomas Rosicky…

He will be back in full training this week, it is fantastic because he has been out for very long and it is good to know that a player of that calibre is back in our squad.

on Alexis…

We think he will be short for Wednesday, he has a chance to be available for Sunday [against Stoke]. He is always keen to play. If you listen to Alexis, he can always play – even when he is injured. We try to be cautious. With a muscular injury you never exactly how big the risk but he is very close. If you look at him training he is very close.

So the squad will be similar to the one that faced Sunderland on Saturday but at least it looks like Sanchez should be back to face Stoke on Sunday while Rosicky is also close to full fitness.

Wilshere, Welbeck and Coquelin are all still out with long-term injuries but we should see the trio back in the squad at some point in February while Cazorla will be back around March from his knee injury.

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