Arsene Wenger has revealed this morning that Mathieu Debuchy has returned to full training for the first time since injuring ankle ligaments against Manchester City on 13 September.
The French international has been ruled out of Saturday’s game against Stoke, despite doubts over Laurent Koscielny and Nacho Monreal unavailable, but could potentially make the bench against Galatasaray in midweek ahead of a possible comeback against former club Newcastle United.
The 29-year-old had intimated recently that he was targeting Arsenal’s Boxing Day game with Queens Park Rangers. Given we could be down to four fit defenders again – BFG, Gibbs, Chambers and young Bellerin – the earlier return of a player with considerable experience is timely.
Unfortunately, it’s not all good news on the injury front (when is it ever?). Theo Walcott’s groin problems continue and he’ll miss the next couple of games.
“He has an injection today so he will not play,” confirmed Wenger. “Galatasaray is also too early for him.”
It’s not unusual for players returning from long-term injuries to pick up niggles along the way, but it is concerning that Theo’s not featured at all since he went off to train with England in November. No doubt he’ll be more frustrated than anyone. Let’s hope it’s not too serious.
Injection to the groin, ouch!
I know in the context of this article its not the ideal thing to say but Walcott… Sign the thing!
I think the thing just got an injection, it might be a little tender.
Wonder if Theo gets in the team now. When he does come back, he’ll have been out for a full year almost and it will take him a month or so to get back little bit match sharpness. When will he back to his best? March? Hard to see him keep his place with Chamberlain and Sanchez tearing it up on the wings. Not to mention Poldi chomping at the bit for a chance and Welbeck an option on the left as well.
That’s squad depth and competition I’d love to see.
I think we can use Theo as an impact sub in the mean time. Ozil can’t be too far away from training as well I hope.
I wish we had the same problems at the back!
Debuchy has done a “Giroud”, great.
Walcott needs to be fully fit. No point rushing him. We have options (welbeck and Alexis) that were not there when he left. Ox is also coming in leaps and bounds.
At risk of sounding Insanely optimistic I think we’re going to get everyone back from injuries and once we do we are going to have a very strong squad. Once debuchy comes back we’ll actually have alternative options in defence. The squad has plenty of attacking options already but with walcott to come back and ozil some time later I can honestly see us pushing city for 2nd (first is very unlikely but remember our dip in form last year). What I want more than anything now(seeing as a lot of our objectives are unlikely) is a great effort to… Read more »
We’ve been fucked by injuries this season we really have.
I dunno.
A fair amount of new players acclimatising was buggering up our attack and the only place ravaged by injuries is the area we knew we were stupidly light in, thereby exacerating our psychological issues.
We have had issues with them, but our inability to beat Leicester or Swansea or Anderlecht, even Everton, is nothing to do with the injuries.
Unless you were just randomly commenting that we have had injuries, which is inarguable.
Are you saying that If Kozzer had been playing at CB then he’d have given a penalty to Anderlecht (to go with their ridiculous off-side goal)?
I too have exacerated my psychological issues D:
Here’s to hoping that we gain players rather than lose them over the Christmas period, however I’m getting really concerned about burning alexis out, he’s played at a crazy tempo (which I love – don’t get me wrong) in most of our matches. With little rest in the summer due to the World Cup and a forthcoming hectic winter schedule where he is used to a rest, I would not be surprised (clasping wood and rabbit’s feet) if he picks up some innocuous strain that keeps him out in early 2015. Could be an avenue in for theo though…
I hope we are working on Theo’s new contract, don’t want “Sign da ting” v2.0 now do we?
When will I ever get to see Alexis on left, Ozil in the middle, Theo on right, all three feeding to Giroud’s handsome forehead!
Damn you Blogs…you scared me with that picture…
In regards to the whole Theo contract situation, its nice to see for once that the player dosent hold all the power. With all the options and quality we have right now he must really prove he’s worthy of a place in the team. Not so long ago that would be unthinkable at Arsenal with a player of Theos quality.
Theo will be back in time to help us scrape over the line for fourth spot again.