We do not yet know quite how long Arsene Wenger is going to have to cope without Danny Welbeck in the Arsenal squad. The striker picked up a knee injury in the England win over Lithuania at Wembley and even though Roy Hodgson suggested it was only a minor injury, Welbeck is almost certainly going to miss the very important Premier League clash with top four rivals Liverpool next Saturday.
How much will we miss him? Hopefully not enough to stop us beating the scousers and putting one foot in next season’s Champions League, but I am a little concerned. Even assuming that the rest of the Gunners return to north London fully fit, Welbeck will be missed in that game.
We have the bonus of Martin Skrtel being suspended and that should give Giroud more chance of dominating their defence, but with the pace and power of Welbeck alongside the Frenchman we could have given them a really tough day. The big question I suppose is who will replace him.
Unless Theo Walcott does something amazing with England on Tuesday, I think it will be Ozil, with Cazorla in the number 10 role, so hopefully he will not play much for Spain on Wednesday. Tomas Rosicky is also likely to play for the Czech Republic on Wednesday night so there is a concern for Wenger about the freshness of his players in the early Saturday kick-off.
Do you think that Welbeck injury could prove costly for Arsenal?