As you know by now, Arsenal first-choice striker Olivier Giroud might be out for three months due to a freak injury in the closing moments of the team's 2-2 draw at Everton Saturday. In today's press conference ahead of tomorrow's crucial Champions League qualifier against Besiktas, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger essentially said, "Yeah, it's bad." Specifically, he said:
He will not play tomorrow and he will see a specialist tomorrow. After that we will make an announcement of how long he will be out for.
When prompted on whether it'll be a long-term injury, he said, "It can be. We will see tomorrow," and on whether it's a broken foot as rumored, he said, "I don't know, it's sad for us but at the moment we are focused on tomorrow's game."
Other injury news is not terrific. Namely:
Mikel Arteta has a short-term injury, and will sit out tomorrow (as well as Aaron Ramsey, due to a dubious red card in Tuesday's match in Istanbul), but could be available this weekend in Leicester.
Kieran Gibbs is still healing, and will likely be back from his hamstring issue after the international break -- which would mean Sept. 13 in a match against Manchester City.
Theo Walcott's making progress, but won't be rushed back to the field too soon -- look for a return to full training by mid-September, and a return to play by the end of September. (Hopefully, in time for the other crucial early season match, vs. Chelsea on Oct. 6.)
All right, New Fitness Coach Shad Forsythe, let's see what you can do.