Arsene Wenger says Francis Coquelin will miss tomorrow’s game with Basel but won’t be out for longer than three weeks following the injury he picked up against Chelsea.
There had been fears that the French midfielder had sustained ligament damage but the scan, undertaken yesterday in North London, proved positive.
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, the boss revealed: “He is out for the game tomorrow, but it should be a short-term injury because the scan was quite positive and I think it will be three weeks out.
“It’s positive because last year during this period we got some bad news and a few long-term injuries and it was a handicap in our season. After you play always the same players and you lose a little bit of your edge physically. The fact is we have a compact squad, but of top quality, so to keep everybody together is a big plus.”
The Gunners have no further injury problems from the weekend’s win over Chelsea meaning there’s a decent chance Granit Xhaka could face his brother, Taulant.
“Xhaka plays against Xhaka tomorrow so it’s a family reunion,” remarked Wenger. “We know Basel well because we bought Elneny & I know them quite well.”
Olivier Giroud will miss the game having been sent off against Paris Saint Germain, although the boss suggested the Frenchman is still struggling for fitness and could also miss Sunday’s game away at Burnley.
Is that three weeks, or “three weeks”?
It is trhee weeks no reason for not telling the true as now we have players to cover every position.
Honestly is great news because we will really need coq in November for the games against man utd and spuds and PSG immideatly after that, not to mention Decembers boxing days. Great news
Not sure about you, but I need to use it everyday when going toilet.
A combination of skill and steel again please.
Nice……..
i think he means “knee weaks”
We need our Coq back as the Premier league season is long and hard.
Great news! Very positive feeling around the club at the moment. Not to tempt the injury gods but if we get our Coq back in action within 3 weeks that would be fantastic. Let’s continue the winning momentum tomorrow
god, i love to see the Coq in action. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside
I think theres a little Coq inside all of us
that one made my day tbfh!
Yes, wispher it, we may have turned the corner in terms of injuries.
Will be very excited if Perez starts! Haven’t seen him in any televised games so far!
I would also like Perez to start, but I think will go with same three up front as there is no reason to disrupt them especially now when there are all in form, maybe I can see him resting iwobi.
Three weeks is ideal. Time for Xhaha to cement his place beside Cazorla. Then have Coq back as a great substitute.
Finally the coq has gotten staying powers.
Anyone else thinks it is more than just a fitness issue in the Giroud camp?
Possibly. He had a long European Championship and then the frustrating final when to everyone’s sorrow we had to watch That Cunt (you know who) lift the trophy at the end.
Have a break, HFB, and come back stronger after it.
Why should we think there’s any other issue? We could see when Giroud came on that he was at least half a yard short. Clearly not up to match fitness yet, that’s all.
I think it is a fitness issue, but also I think maybe Arsene is keeping Ollie until after the international break. He wasn’t fit, still got played, and took a lot of stick in the last internationals, which won’t have done his confidence any good, especially after the disappointing Euros. I’m looking forward to a rejeuvenated, fit and hungry Ollie after the break. He still offers this team a lot, especially when the opposition park the bus.
Coq is made of Rod
Good to hear that Le Coq is back. I know that the general opinion of him is that he’s a midfield enforcer, in the last 12 months he’s really improved the other side of his game. I understand the pining for Xhaka to play, but Coquelin is really a lot more than a stopgap for us. His ability to intercept and press the ball high up the pitch is crucial to our high press that has caught Man Utd, Man City and Chelsea out. It’s no coincidence that having a hard Coq has made getting good results a lot easier.… Read more »
Wait, so its a positive and expecting to be short term, by wenger standard, that tells nothing. Remember the Rosicky the Jack the Diaby out for short term phrase? He didnt say three weeks did he?
Good news on Coq. Hopefully, Arsenal will not rest too many players for tomorrow’s CL match against Basel. This is a dangerous team to English top teams in successive seasons since 2011. Their win track record against manutd, Chelsea and Liverpool speaks volumes. A strong Arsenal team with a strong desire is needed for this game to take control of top position in the group.
Great news……..I have always known our Coq can be hard as Granit(e)!
Squad for tomorrow. What do you guys think?
Ooooospina
Bellerin Mustafi Kos Monreal – but I’m wondering if we rotate Gibbs and Holding in
Xhaka Elneny – gotta let them play against their old team 🙂
Theo Ozil Sanchez – maybe rest Sanchez for Ox and Ozil for Iwobi….
Lucas
This is getting so hard to do, Wenger has great problems this year!
Remember when we beat Chelsea? That was awesome.
Because it’s so early in the season, we need to lock in the points (and Basel aren’t incapable of upsets, hello Manchester) and Sanchez hates taking breaks, I expect minimal rotation.
Basel, Burnley, Swansea,Lugadorets, Reading – Not a bad run of games for Xhaka to get used to The Arsenal game.
I hope Ramsey would be back soon and Wenger will rotate a bit to get them ready for tougher games in Nov/Dec.
My hope is that the players do not take basel lightly, which we tend to do after having a great game. We have to try and keep the Chelsea mind set through out the season if we are to have success in the competitions we are in. I was hoping for some good news on Coquelin and it seems to have come through, 3 weeks seem just right, for all Xhaka brilliance with his long range passing and shooting i do not think he has the pace to compete with a competitive midfield and not being as mobile as Coquelin… Read more »
Maybe I’m just paranoid, but am I the only one that finds the Giroud fitness thing odd?
I mean, it’s a toe injury. How can it be so complicated? Yet, he’s had it for weeks now but was able to still play a bit in the last game? Doesn’t seem right.
I suspect Big G may be suffering from some confidence issues, possibly caused by the Euros (and being made an unfair scapegoat) and returning to not just us signing a new striker, but Sanchez now our de factor CF.
Or I’m just chatting bollocks. Probably the latter.
it occured to me to. think its because wenger is starting to loose faith in giroud and consequently is in no hurry to play him. wenger is starting to search for new solutions in striker position as its clear that giroud will not win us the league and also because efforts of buying a world class striker have been fruitless. so wenger is trying to create a new worldclass striker rather buy one in sanchez.its not easy but make no mistake sanchez will be the closest to a worldclass striker we will have in the near future unless we by… Read more »
He might have gout. I got it last month and was knackered.
Am I the only one who thinks he just has a toe injury?
Yeah it sounds minor but maybe it stops him from sprinting, maybe Perez is better than a Giroud that can’t run properly.
Ive had a broken big toe before, bloody painful to run on, and the only way to get it right is to let it heal a bit… its plausible.
Wouldn’t mind seeing a Xhakney partnership again against Basel.
I like Santi, who doesn’t? But I think they both make a very complimentary partnership that has the potential to have everything; creativity, physicality, energy and technical ability.
xhaka and elneny would be too defensive i think. against teams like nottingham it will work but against champions league we might need players like santi or ramsey . but i do think we should afford give santi and maybe walcot a rest . they are susceptible to injuries and seeing as they are part of the best eleven we have it will be a blow for us if any one of them gets injured particularly when ramsey santi’s backup is also injured.
that said the midfield partnership i like to see is xhaka-ramsey .
I woudn’t want our team to be coq blocked for too long. 3 weeks is nice.
Whats happened to Giroud’s fitness? Its been almost 2 months since he got back from holidays. His fitness hasn’t stopped him playing for france even
Glad Coquelin is not a long term injury. Hopefully a consistent run in the side will let Xhaka get fully settled so Wenger will feel more confident picking him. Would be nice to see Elneny get a start tomorrow to pair up with Xhaka, would also like to see Perez get a run.
Giroud seem to be definitely struggling when he came on against Chelsea. Seem not to be 100%…maybe a half toe away from fully in sync. Regards Coquelin, as mentioned, great news. We need BOTH Granit and Le Coq. They bring slightly different capabilities to the same function. Coquelin tends to be more active prssing higher which means Santi sits back and does the deep passing. The screening is higher up. Granit sits slightly deeper and allows Santi to go forward. In this case we have two players who can pass from deep and swap out with each other. There is… Read more »
The Coq won’t be limp(ing) for long. Great it could be hard and strong quick as we need a good long performance.
Some positive new on the injury front? What is this sorcery?
We keep having good luck. V strange.
For now,lets enjoy xhaka-cazorla combo.