The 31-year-old had been Arsenal’s saviour on a number of occasions this season!
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (Photo: AFP)
Arsenal managed to edge London rivals West Ham United 1-0 to progress to the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night but the win came at a cost as Arsene Wenger revealed Olivier Giroud suffered what seems like a hamstring injury and is unlikely to feature in December.
“In his statement (to me) it doesn’t look very good,” Wenger responded when asked whether the French striker’s injury was bad.
The 31-year-old striker, who has been influential for the Gunners after coming off the bench of late, is almost certain to miss their home clash with Liverpool on Friday now.
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“It looks like that. We have to wait. Nowadays you do the scan 48 hours after the injury. That will happen on Thursday, then we’ll have a precise kind of grade on what his hamstring is. When you listen to him, the pain is quite big, but the grade is not always linked with the intensity of the pain,” Wenger stated when asked whether he expected Giroud to miss the rest of the festive period.
Defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin was another player who limped off but Wenger had some good news on that front as he added, “I would say Coquelin has a chance for Friday night. Giroud definitely looks a hamstring and that’s of course disappointing, let’s hope it will not be too bad”.
After the Liverpool game, Arsenal take on Crystal Palace (December 28) and West Bromwich Albion (December 31) in 2017, with Giroud a major doubt for both clashes.
Central midfielder Aaron Ramsey suffered a hamstring injury last week to further complicate matters for Wenger and is expected to return after the New Year as well.
With the title out of reach, Arsenal are in the hunt for the top-four and Friday’s clash with Liverpool has been billed as a play-off for fourth spot by many despite the Premier League season being at the half-way mark as of now.
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