Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had some good news with respects to his side’s injuries as he revealed that central midfielder Aaron Ramsey has a fighting chance of playing against Manchester City on Sunday and £56-million acquisition Alexandre Lacazette is recovering well after undergoing a knee surgery.
“He’s not in the squad. He had a good training session but he’s a bit short for Thursday,” Wenger responded when asked about Ramsey’s fitness at his pre-match press conference on Wednesday.
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The Gunners take on Swedish side FK Ostersunds in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round-of-32 tie at the Emirates on Thursday night with a 3-0 advantage from the first leg and hence, are favourites to progress to the next round.
With a Carabao Cup final with Premier League leaders Manchester City looming large on the horizon, the French tactical admitted Ramsey was touch-and-go for Sunday’s clash at Wembley and he was hesitant to rule the Welshman out completely.
“We’ll see how his evolution goes now from today until Sunday. I don’t rule him out yet, it depends on how well he can improve with the intensity of training until Sunday,” the long-serving Arsenal boss said.
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Ramsey, the only Arsenal player to have scored a treble this season, is arguably their most influential midfielder, but Wenger was adamant that in the case the Welshman didn’t recover in time, the Gunners would be able to cope against the Sky Blues.
“Ideally, you want to have the choice but our job is about adaptation and very rarely in your life are you in an ideal situation where you have the luxury of choosing from all the players in your squad. We will adapt. Ideally, I would like him to be available but we’ll see.”
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Summer signing Alexandre Lacazette recently underwent a minor procedure on his knee and Wenger had some good new to divulge with regards to his compatriot’s recovery as he added, “He’s doing well. I think he will be ahead of his planned recovery. It should be four weeks from now, maybe three and a half weeks, so his response has been good”.