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Arsene Wenger delivers double injury blow ahead of West Ham trip

By mac14 on December 12, 2017

Arsene Wenger has delivered a double injury blow ahead of Arsenal’s trip to the London Stadium to take on West Ham tomorrow night.

The boss has confirmed that Shkodran Mustafi will once again miss out as the centre-back is still not fully recovered from his thigh injury.

Mustafi picked up the problem during the defeat to Manchester United last weekend and missed the subsequent matches with BATE and Southampton.

There were hopes the German international would return to face West Ham and he is back in light training but the clubs medical team feel he’s not fit enough to play tomorrow evening.

In a further blow, Wenger has also revealed that Aaron Ramsey won’t be available for selection against the Hammers after suffering a hamstring injury at the weekend.

Ramsey was seen limping during the closing stages of our draw at Southampton but thankfully Wenger says the injury is only minor so the Welshman shouldn’t be out for too long.

Otherwise, the only other injury concern we have is Santi Cazorla and the Spaniard will be lucky to play again this season after suffering a set-back in his recovery from a long-term Achilles injury.

At Colney. Wenger: "Mustafi will not be back. We lost Ramsey against Southampton. He will not be available for tomorrow's game. Everybody else apart from the long-term injuries will be available."

— James Olley (@JamesOlley) December 12, 2017

Mustafi training but not "completely ready" maybe be fit to face Newcastle on Saturday. Ramsey "short period, not a big one." #AFC

— Mark Mann-Bryans (@MarkyMBryans) December 12, 2017

With Mustafi still out, it will be interesting to see what Wenger does in defence as Per Mertesacker was woeful at the weekend. Personally, I’d like to see us move to a back four but if we stick with three at the back then Rob Holding deserves a chance.

Obviously it’s a blow to lose Ramsey but the silver lining is his absence should open the door for Jack Wilshere to make his first league start of the season in central midfield.