Arsene Wenger has confirmed that injured midfielder Abou Diaby is likely to miss the rest of the season after suffering a calf problem against Stoke in his substitute appearance.
The Frenchman would have been keen to get some match-time under his belt ahead of Euro 2012, but now has an anxious wait over whether he will be even selected for the squad to go to the tournament.
In other news Wenger also confirmed that Theo Walcott will return to normal training next Thursday or Friday and may be available for selection in Arsenal’s final game of the campaign.
The pacy Englishman pulled up against Chelsea a couple weeks ago with a hamstring injury, but luckily initial fears of a serious injury proved not to be true.
Wenger revealed the following news on official website Arsenal.com:
Basically there are no changes from the team at the weekend. We have small bumps and bruises from our last game at Stoke but everybody who started should be available again.
[on Johan Djourou] He should be back after his foot injury.
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[on Abou Diaby] He is out. He has a calf problem. He will probably be out for the two games we have left.
[on Theo Walcott] If all goes well he is back in normal training on Thursday or Friday. Then we have to assess the risk of a setback, so we will see. If all goes well he could be back for the next weekend.
[on Per Mertesacker] He is doing well. Considering his shape and the fact he has six weeks to go, he should be available for Germany [at Euro 2012].
Obviously the team news revealed means Arsenal are likely to start the same starting eleven as last week as none of those players have been hit by injury.
Arsenal play Norwich in their upcoming game and again will be favourites to secure all three points. While on paper their advantage is clear, it doesn’t count for much in the Premier League. Hopefully they can muster up a good performance and secure all three points and get a stranglehold on third place!
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