Wenger reveals Arsenal injury doubts ahead of Southampton clash

Thursday, September 13, 2012
12:29 PM

Arsene Wenger is sweating on the fitness of Abou Diaby and Theo Walcott ahead of the Gunners’ meeting with Southampton at the Emirates on Saturday.

Diaby suffered a muscular injury on duty with France while Walcott is still recovering from the virus which forced him out of England’s match against Ukraine.

On Diaby, Wenger said: “He will have a test on Friday morning and we will go from there.

“At the moment he is 50:50.

“It is a small muscular problem that is very minor.

“But of course we are in the situation that, because we play so many games now, should we take a gamble or not with him?”

He continued: “Theo Walcott is in bed with a virus.

“He should be back today, so we will have to see how well he has recovered from that.”

There was better news for goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny, who will be back in the squad on Saturday, while Jack Wilshere, Bacary Sagna, Tomas Rosicky and Emmanuel Frimpong are all close to comebacks.

“At the moment the injured players look like they are recovering well,” said Wenger.

“The main injuries are Frimpong who is recovering well, Wilshere is short-term, Sagna around two weeks and Rosicky around two to three weeks.”