Arsenal will be without Alexis
Sanchez for this weekend third round FA cup tie against Sunderland.
The Chilean who has been out his late November with a hamstring problem was
initially scheduled to return this weekend, but he is not yet ready to make his comeback. Arsene
Wenger confirmed this to the club's official website.
However, the Frenchman confirmed
that Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta would return to the squad for this weekend
match after he recovered fully from his longstanding calf problem.
The former Everton midfielder
played 45 minutes in Arsenal's U21s 3-2 win over Blackburn
earlier in the week as part of his comeback from injury. He has been plagued by
repeated calf injuries in the past year. He had a surgery on his ankle in
December, 2014 to fix a problem in the calf that kept him out for nearly four
months, but the calf injuries has resurfaced several times this season, as he
has not featured since he limped off against West Brom in November.
His return will be a welcome boost
for Arsenal as the club has been short of numbers in midfield in the last few
months.
The other positive from Arsene
Wenger's update is that Tomas Rosicky is expected to resume full training next
week, while Francis Coquelin and Santi Cazorla's recovery is going well that
they could return in February.
Arsenal have several players that
have not featured this season because of injury. Danny Welbeck, Jack Wilshere and Tomas Rosicky
have been out all season after they went under the knife at various times in 2015, and it is looking very likely that the Czech captain
will be the first to return before the English duo.
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