It is not good news for Arsenal on the injury front by any means, with Arsene Wenger already having to cope with plenty of missing players already this season, but it could definitely have been worse. I certainly feared the worst after all the Arsenal players that missed the Champions League defeat in Germany on Tuesday, but we will have a few of them back for tomorrow.
The really good news for the Gunners is that Jack Wilshere, one of our star men so far this season, is available to play at Aston Villa. His ankle injury was just a slight turn and not as bad as the boss feared, as he reveals in an Arsenal.com report. Also, our new young defender Calum Chambers is over his illness and Flamini is available to shore up that weak midfield.
Wenger said, “We have [Calum] Chambers back because he had tonsillitis and wasn’t available. And everybody who started the game will be available again. Flamini’s back as well because he wasn’t on the team sheet. He’s back and available.
“[Jack is] available too. I was wrong [after the Dortmund game], it was his left ankle and it was only a click that made him turn his ankle a bit, so he’s alright.”
So that is the good news, Gooners, here is the bad news. Nacho Monreal is still out with a back problem, with the manager unable to give any indication of how long, but hoping that it will be a short term thing. And the unlucky French right back Mathieu Debuchy is going to have a medical procedure later today to determine whether he needs surgery. Depending on the results, Debuchy will miss either six weeks or three months, so it looks like Chambers and Bellerin will get a good chance to impress Wenger.
The other news is that Yaya Sanogo is still out of action with a slight hamstring problem, but it should not be for long. There is no mention of Theo Walcott, but he is expected to make his comeback to the first team squad in the next week or two.