Arsenal Injury News: Who’s Fit to Face Middlesbrough?

The Arsenal injury situation has been up and down, as it usually is, although it’s usually more of the down variety. But in the wake of Aaron Ramsey’s and Alexis Sanchez’s new, yet old, injuries, here’s a look at who’s fit, who’s nearing fitness, and who will never be fit again (Abou Diaby).

Jack Wilshere

The chain-smoking addict could potentially see game time against Middlesbrough this weekend, which would be nothing short of amazing. After being deemed a worthless waste of life since being seen holding a kilo of… I mean a hookah pipe, Wilshere has struck back and proven that he is hard at work and more dedicated than ever.

If Wilshere is fit to play, I think he needs to get on the pitch. Arsene Wenger had this to say to the Arsenal website  about the young Englishman’s fitness:

"He’s motivated and focused to come back as quickly as possible. He worked very hard but he has still been out for [more than two] months and what he needs now is to get back. Competition gives you that sharpness that training cannot give you because it’s about a combination of fitness and decision-making – and speed of decision-making. It takes a while to get that back."

It sounds promising. If the last step to get him back to match fitness is to get him some playing time, then let’s make it happen!

Alexis Sanchez

Wenger didn’t have much to say on the Chilean mastermind, “Alexis is still not able to go out, he could be short again for Sunday.”

So basically, don’t play him. As much as Alexis wants to play, his health is crucial to Arsenal’s successes. Middlesbrough may be the “giant slayer” of the FA Cup, but very few giant slayers have ever slain more than one giant (fact).

Arsenal shouldn’t have much trouble getting on to the next round, so let’s line up Theo Walcott, Olivier Giroud and Mesut Ozil and let that trio bring us a win. There is no need to risk Alexis.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

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Wenger indicated that the Ox was the closest to being back between him, Mikel Arteta and Mathieu Debuchy. Given his previous time frame of two weeks, the Ox should still be about a week out.

I, for one, can’t wait for the young ninja-turtle lookalike to be back on the pitch, as he’s one of Arsenal’s future (and present) stars.

Aaron Ramsey

Wenger called Ramsey’s hamstring problem “little” and said it would keep him out two weeks for sure. But that’s the good news. We were expecting a month or more, so the prospect of having him back earlier than that is incredibly welcome.

The bad news is that Wenger admitted what we already sort of knew: there is an underlying problem.

"We haven’t found the underlying reason. There is an underlying reason that is certainly medical or bio-mechanical because he is a guy who is serious, works hard, has a controlled and disciplined life, so there’s no obvious reason why he should have muscular problems."

It’s only a grade one injury, so it’s nothing serious this time around.

Wenger also said he would not be changing Ramsey’s training regime, as each regime is player-specific.

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