clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Norwich team news: Walcott and Gibbs out, Wilshere in

Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs are unsurprisingly out against Norwich on Saturday, but Jack Wilshere may make his first full team appearance in over a year.

If you buy something from an SB Nation link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics statement.

Jack Wilshere, pointing at the place where he's going to PLAY FOOTBALL AGAIN AHHHHHHHHH
Jack Wilshere, pointing at the place where he's going to PLAY FOOTBALL AGAIN AHHHHHHHHH
Paul Thomas

There's a bit of team news to report ahead of the match tomorrow at Norwich, with varying levels of surprise and glee involved. At the south end of happiness and surprise, Arsenal will be without both Theo Walcott and Kieran Gibbs. Both, according to Wenger, should be back soon.

On Walcott:

Theo is out for Saturday, for sure...He's quickly short of breath when he makes an effort but it's bruising and that will heal. It's no major concern but it will take we think about two weeks to be back to a normal level.

and Gibbs is in a similar place:

[He] is out for Saturday...He has a little chance to be ready for Wednesday and a bigger chance for QPR.

Wojciech Szczesny and Lukasz Fabianski are also still injured, with Szczesny "two weeks away" still. Fabianski has a new injury to ankle ligaments that will require surgery, and will cause him to miss three months. He is not a lucky man. Wenger also mentions that Abou Diaby and Tomas Rosicky remain "a few weeks away."

At the other end of the happy-and-surprising spectrum, Jack Wilshere evidently will be available for the match Saturday. This comes from his agent, Simon Bayliff.

It's highly doubtful that he would start, and with Wenger saying today that Wilshere would play in another reserves game next week and then maybe be back for the Capital One Cup match with Reading on October 30, he may not even play. But it's been confirmed by several trusted sources that Wilshere is travelling and in the squad, so perhaps this is an early reward for his hard work in rehabilitation and his good play in the reserves games so far.

Either way, it appears that we're getting really close to Jack Wilshere's full return to Arsenal football.