Lukas Podolski Out For 8-10 Weeks

In a development that is completely unsurprising given he was taken off on a stretcher, Arsene Wenger has revealed Lukas Podolski will now miss 8-10 weeks instead of the initial prognosis of 3 weeks. At the very least, this will definitely kill off rumours of Podolski's departure from the club, but it is still bad news to lose a player from a squad that is both thin on numbers and thin on players who have Podolski's excellent finishing qualities.

In the short term, Arsenal now have 13 fit outfield players, and then the raw, unknown qualities of Yaya Sanogo, Serge Gnabry and Ryo Miyaichi. In the long-term, with Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain out for 3 months and assuming that Santi Cazorla will play wide on the left, Gnabry and Miyaichi are, as of now, the second and third choice wing players. There was already a need for a creative player or two to come into the team, for quality and depth purposes; that need is even more paramount now. Arsenal can probably get away with having Podolski, Walcott and Cazorla cover multiple positions, but they can't if multiple players are injured. There needs to be at least one attacking signing, something that Arsene Wenger seemingly recognises. Recognising is one step, though; delivering a new signing is very much another.