Arsene Wenger has given his team news ahead of the clash with Swansea City and said that Mesut Özil will return. The German has missed the last couple of matches with flu but he will not be joined by Hector Bellerin who will miss out again (via Arsenal.com).
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Matchday: Match Preview – Team News – Betting Preview
Match: Swansea City v Arsenal
Stadium: The Liberty Stadium
Kick-Off (GMT): Sat 14 January 15:00
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It was mixed news on the injury front from Arsene Wenger’s pre-match press conference. While the boss did confirm that a number of players will be returning for the Swansea clash, he also said that a few more will miss out.
“Basically we have the same players available as last week plus Laurent Koscielny, Petr Cech, Mesut Özil and Alexis Sanchez.” Koscielny, Cech and Sanchez were all rested during last week’s FA Cup match but Mesut Özil’s return is timely. The German hasn’t played all year after suffering a heavy bout of flu but should return for the clash in South Wales.
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The Frenchman was also asked about Hector Bellerin. The Spaniard has missed the last couple of weeks and Wenger confirmed that he could be out for even longer.
“He is still out,” Wenger confirmed. “Coquelin is still out too, they could make next week. They aren’t far.” Unfortunately, it’s less good news for Theo Walcott.
“He is still out. He doesn’t come back but he was not rested last week, he was injured.
“He’s been out for 3 weeks and he will not be back for Burnley as well, he’ll need a couple of more weeks.
“I’m not concerned, it was a little calf problem and he was not comfortable when he was training and we had to pull him out. It’s been two weeks.”
So that’s Bellerin, Coquelin and Walcott out of the clash but Sanchez, Özil and Koscielny all set to return. Arsenal go into the clash with Swansea on a pretty good run of form and with a reasonably strong squad for what is always a tough away match.
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