Friday 14 August 2015 11:36, UK
Danny Welbeck is still "at least three weeks" away from fitness, according to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
The striker has been out since April, when he suffered a knee injury that kept him out of Arsenal's FA Cup final victory a month later.
And Wenger's latest prognosis would appear to rule him out of England's European Qualifiers against San Marino and Switzerland at the start of September.
"He's not close," said Wenger, speaking at his weekly press conference ahead of Sunday's trip to Crystal Palace. "He's not started full training, so I'd say at least three weeks from today."
Wenger has just one fit recognised centre-forward in Olivier Giroud, although Theo Walcott has been earmarked for a more central role this season.
The Frenchman has previously dismissed reports of a move for Karim Benzema as "media talk" and says the chances of Arsenal making a signing this month have not been affected either way by the opening defeat to West Ham.
"We are as open after that result as we were before," he said. "We are working very hard and focused to do what we can strengthen our squad.
"But the availability is not big, and it's important we focus on our performance on Sunday."
Wenger denied an interest in Sevilla's defensive midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak and played down the possibility of Mathieu Flamini leaving for Galatasaray.
"I expect him to be here," he said of Flamini. "At the moment he is not involved, but he told me has no intention to leave. He'll be involved at some stage, he works very hard and his intention is to stay."
And asked about Palermo's interest in Joel Campbell he said: "We haven't got anything concrete from anybody."
Watch Crystal Palace v Arsenal live on Super Sunday this weekend. Coverage begins at 12.30pm on Sky Sports 1.
