Danny Welbeck is in line to make his Arsenal return in the FA Cup on Saturday after nine months on the sidelines with a knee injury.
Arsene Wenger revealed the England striker, who has been back in training since last month, could feature in the third-round clash at Preston.
Welbeck will only start on the substitutes' bench, but his return is a major boost for the Gunners.
Arsenal boss, Wenger said: "I haven't decided yet with him. He could play but it depends on Lucas Perez a little bit. He injured his ankle.
"It also depends on how Danny feels. Physically, his fitness is at quite a good level but of course, the ideal way is to give him two or three games with the Under-23s.
"But the situation is not always ideal, sometimes you have to hurry up."
Arsenal head to the Championship side on the back of their thrilling 3-3 draw with Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
Arsenal staged an intriguing comeback in the final 20 minutes to earn a point but the talking point was Alexis Sanchez's body language.
Sanchez argued with Aaron Ramsey and the Chilean later threw a tantrum at full time by throwing his gloves on the turf.
SporTainment revealed his sulking continued in the changing room as he hardly said a word to his team-mates.
Sanchez, who is in a contract stand-off with Arsenal, is set to be rested at Deepdale but Wenger said: "We wanted to win the game and when you don’t win, you're not happy. It’s normal. He was alright.
"Without passion, you do not come back when you are 3-0 down in 70 minutes."
"First of all, it is exceptional. It doesn’t always happen in the Premier League. You needed a special response. We wanted to win the game, we didn't win."
Wenger revealed that Francis Coquelin is set to be sidelined for up to four weeks by a hamstring injury after he was substituted in the first half at Bournemouth.
The Frenchman, who has won the Cup six times at Arsenal, added: "I will take my first-choice team. Maybe two or three players will be rested.
"This competition is a big priority for us."
No comments:
Post a Comment