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Arsenal Injury News: Laurent Kocienly, Theo Walcott
By Josh Sippie
Injuries and Arsenal go hand in hand. Every season we lose a hefty chunk of our starting squad to the ever-present injury bug. This year has been no exception with Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy, Mikel Arteta and Mesut Ozil all suffering one form of long-term injury or another.
The latest name that joined that list was the much-needed backline enforcer, Laurent Kocielny, who is suffering from acute tendonitis in his achilles tendons.
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Kocielny was sent back from the most recent international break for testing and it didn’t seem that serious, but in typical Arsenal fashion we were wrong, and the Frenchman is now out indefinitely.
Arsene Wenger could set no timetable for his return, suffice to say that he was merely “hopeful” that he’d be back for the weekend of November 22nd. The fact that all we can do is be “hopeful” makes me significantly less “hopeful,” if that makes any sense.
There is literally no room for error on the back line now. Nacho Monreal already should not be starting at centerback. The only option is to start Chambers there and allow Bellerin to start on the right. Either way, this is some no good, dirty, rotten, horrible news.
On the bright side, Theo Walcott is looking spry of late. Wenger was hesitant to commit to him playing against Sunderland but said he’d be back next week for sure.
It will be awesome to see Walcott back in action. Last season looked to be an incredibly promising one for him until he went down with a torn ACL. Hopefully he can pick up where he left off and give Arsenal that added creativity that we so desperately need.