When the Arsenal and England international forward Danny Welbeck picked up an in jury during the Premier League home game against Chelsea near the end of April, it was not thought that it was much of an issue. From then on the news from Arsene Wenger on the former Man United man was always positive and always made it sound as if Welbeck was on the verge of a comeback.
At one point the boss declared that he would definitely play before the end of the season, then that he would make it for the FA cup final, but now it has been four months and Welbeck has still not kicked another ball in anger. That tells me that there is more to his knee problem that meets the eye, or at least more than we are being told. So I will take the latest positive update posted on the Arsenal website with a pinch of salt if you don´t mind.
In fact the manager does not really mention Welbeck other than to say he is not back yet, but it is a worry that such an apparently nothing injury has kept our striker out for this long. At least the news on another of our England internationals, Jack Wilshere, is a lot better. And perhaps the fact that the manager was more specific on this player tells us that he really knows what is going on and is confident that the medical team are on top of it.
Wenger said, “From the Palace game we have no injuries and we have still Wilshere, Welbeck and Rosicky to come back. And we have no suspensions. So we should have a similar squad for the Liverpool game.
“Rosicky is progressing nicely but he is far away. Wilshere should be the first back from those players, he is making good progress.”
So there is a chance that we could see Wilshere back in action in the next week or two, although it might be better to be extra careful and wait until after the international break, thereby making sure that Roy Hodgson does not take him with the England squad and get him injured again.