Arsène Wenger has said that Francis Coquelin will be out for three to four weeks with a hamstring injury, and also suggested Mesut Özil is very unlikely to be fit for Arsenal’s FA Cup third-round match against Preston North End this weekend.
Coquelin will have a scan on Thursday to fully establish the extent of the injury, sustained in the first half of Arsenal’s 3-3 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday evening, whilst Özil has been sidelined with the flu. The German last played in Arsenal’s 1-0 victory against West Bromwich Albion on Boxing Day.
“Mesut Özil will be assessed by the doctor today, but I can’t imagine he will be fit,” Wenger said. “It’s the flu, a throat infection, I don’t know exactly.”
Wenger said he will rest “two or three players” for the trip to Preston, including Alexis Sánchez, who has played every minute of Arsenal’s festive fixtures and was visibly distressed at the end of the draw against Bournemouth, hurling his gloves to the floor.
“What is surprising there? You want to see that kind of passion,” Wenger said. “You don’t come down from 3-0 down from 70 minutes without that passion. We wanted to win the game and we didn’t and we’re all frustrated.
“We will play against Preston with 90% of the squad, I will rest [Laurent] Koscielny because he came off with two problems in his thigh, of course [David] Ospina will play, maybe Alexis I will rest certainly, but the rest will play.
“We might have a problem with Lucas Pérez because he injured his ankle against Bournemouth. Coming back, the closest is Walcott but he is not ready, [Kieran] Gibbs will not be ready.”
One positive for Wenger is the potential return of Danny Welbeck, who has not played since damaging his right knee cartilage against Manchester City in May. The striker had surgery at the back end of last season and could make an appearance off the bench this weekend.
“Physically Welbeck’s fitness is at quite a good level, but of course the ideal way is to give him two or three games with the under-23s,” Wenger said. “But the situation is not always ideal, sometimes you have to hurry up.”
The trip to Deepdale on Saturday will be Arsenal’s first there since 1999, when they went 2-0 down in an FA Cup third-round tie before four late goals, including two for Emmanuel Petit, gave them a 4-2 win.
“We had a difficult tie there,” Wenger said. “The FA Cup is a big deal to us. We’ve shown historically that we care. When teams go to Wembley it is something special.”