Although Arsenal had little chance of beating Chelsea after the first 23 minutes when we were a goal down plus a man down, the team did try hard to break through and get an equalizer. But the deficencies in midfield were clear for all to see.
That is why it is great news today that Francis Coquelin has recovered more quickly than expected and is back in training, in fact, according to the Mirror today, Francis is even likely to be in the squad for next weekends FA Cup game against Burnley in preparation for the midweek League game against Southampton.
Out of all our injured players I would say that the return of Coquelin is definitely the most crucial if we are going to carry on our title fight. But that is not all, as it has also been revealed that Tomas Rosicky is also back. He managed 45 minutes in the U21s 0-0 draw with Swansea last night and may even play against Burnley from the start.
Last, but not least is the news that Danny Welbeck is also back in training this week, but Wenger is unlikely to risk him so quickly in our next two matches, but the report says that if he gets through this weeks training with flying colours then Le Prof will set up a private game to assess our much-missed striker.
Wenger has continually stated that he has no need to delve into the transfer market for a new striker because he already has Giroud, Walcott and Welbeck to fulfil this role. That hasn’t been truu up til now, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks we finally see him back in the squad as well.
It is worrying that Wenger hasn’t given an update on Jack Wilshere for the last three weeks since saying he will be back for February, so I think we will just have to keep our fingers crossed on that one….