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Team news update: Arsenal confirm major boost but 5 players could miss Wolves trip

By on July 2, 2020

Arsenal have confirmed a major injury boost but Mikel Arteta could be without five players for Saturday’s trip to Wolves.

Lucas Torreira hasn’t played since suffering an ankle ligament injury during our FA Cup win against Portsmouth back in January but the midfielder has been stepping-up his recovery in recent weeks.

The Uruguayan international returned to full training last week and Arsenal have confirmed on Arsenal.com that Torreira is now considered fit and is available for selection against Wolves. However, after so long on the sidelines, I think a place on the bench is probably the best he can hope for.

Mesut Ozil missed the win over Norwich on Wednesday with a so-called back problem and he’s still not played a single minute of competitive football since the restart. The official line is Ozil will be assessed to see if he can face Wolves, however, like Matteo Guendouzi, Arteta is clearly making a point of axing Ozil from the squad so I don’t expect him to return for the tricky trip to Molineux.

That means Arsenal are likely to be without five players [six if Guendouzi isn’t picked] as Bernd Leno continues to recover from a knee injury that’ll keep him out for another four weeks and Calum Chambers is obviously still out with a knee problem.

mesut ozil arsenal 2018

Pablo Mari won’t play again for at least two months due to a significant ankle injury that he picked-up against Man City and Gabriel Martinelli has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.

The team news update said:

Mesut Ozil
Being assessed ahead of Wolves (a) following back soreness.

Lucas Torreira
Fit and available for selection.

Calum Chambers
Left knee. Ruptured anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee during Chelsea (h) on December 29. Rehabilitation post-surgical repair continuing and currently progressing well with running and gym work. Will not be available for the current schedule of remaining 2019/20 matches.

Bernd Leno
Right knee. Sustained moderate ligament sprain during Brighton & Hove (a) on June 20. Aiming to return to full training in approximately four weeks.

Pablo Mari
Left ankle. Sustained significant sprain to ankle ligaments during Manchester City (a). Has had a successful procedure to the injury this week. Aiming to return to full training in two to three months.

Gabriel Martinelli
Left knee. Sustained injury during training on June 21. Successful arthroscopic procedure undertaken to repair a lesion in the cartilage of the left knee. Will not be available for the current schedule of remaining 2019/20 matches.

So Arsenal continue to have plenty of fitness concerns as we head to Molineux knowing we simply have to come home with a win if we’re to stand any chance of making a late push for a Champions League qualification place.

We’re currently sitting seventh in the Premier League table – six points adrift of Man Utd and Wolves, and eight off Chelsea – so we cannot afford to fall any further behind if we’re to snatch a top five finish [in the hope Man City’s ban is upheld!].

One Comment

  1. Asiru raheem

    July 3, 2020 at 1:55 pm

    Torreira will be amajor boost to our midfield in this hectic period. Tight and tough schedules and loss of manpower in ozil and guendouzi. Thank God he came at the right time. I sensed that arsenal/Arteta is fighting cold war with ozil due to his unsportmanly behaviour during wage cut negotiation during coronavirus lockdown and his agents open involvement with the issue. I guess his time is over with arsenal.