Arsenal face Aston Villa in an early lunch time kickoff on Sunday at Villa Park in Matchday 16 of the Barclays Premier League.
Arsenal are currently undergoing one their worst injury crisis ever under the management of Arsene Wenger with several key players out. Players such as Theo Walcott, Santi Cazorla, Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck, Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta are currently out injured for the Gunners.
Aaron Ramsey, who has returned from an injury layoff himself, has replaced Santi Cazorla in the center of Arsenal midfield in the double pivot role alongside Mathieu Flamini. Theo Walcott, who is close to a return from injury, will battle for the place on the right hand side of midfield with Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.
Wenger hopeful of Alexis Sanchez return for Manchester City clash
Speaking to the media ahead of his side’s clash with Remi Garde’s Aston Villa side on Sunday, Arsene Wenger gave an injury update on Alexis Sanchez.
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“He [Sanchez] is back on Sunday, he trains on Monday morning at 9.30am,” Wenger said (as quoted by metro).
“He is running already… I sent him back to Chile, where he has been running with the physio of the national team, and we will see what kind of state he is in next week. ‘
“He may be a bit short for City, certainly, but with Alexis you never know.”
Asked to comment on the match in general, Arsene Wenger urged his side to not take struggling Aston Villa lightly.
a That message will be stressed to the players,a said Wenger. “The luck we had last week was that we won a game that could have gone the other way and the other results went for us.”
“But Villa need the points just as we do. It is a dangerous match. That means it will be a physical battle. That is why we have to focus straight away on the Premier League after last Wednesday night. We need to recover mentally and physically. But we have shown the maturity to focus on both competitions.”
TEAM NEWS: The boss reveals the latest updates on Alexis, Arteta, Wilshere and Rosicky – https://t.co/ox2IfwMWPR pic.twitter.com/XOuWdUiDbn
a Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) December 11, 2015
