Arsenal have suffered a blow with the news that Kieran Gibbs will be sidelined for at least a month, but Jack Wilshere no longer needs his crutches.
Operation sidelines full-back; Wilshere takes step on recovery
Arsenal have suffered a blow with the news that Kieran Gibbs will be sidelined for between four and five weeks, but Jack Wilshere has been given the all-clear to lose his crutches.
Left-back Gibbs sustained a stomach injury in training a month ago and he has now undergone a hernia operation following futher tests.
The 22-year-old now looks set to be out of action until around Christmas, although manager Arsene Wenger does have Brazilian Andre Santos for the role.
"He has a hernia and had surgery on Thursday. He looks like he will be out for between four and five weeks," Wenger told the club's
official website.
"At first he had an abdominal strain, certainly caused by the fact that he had a hernia already. When the strain was healed we discovered that he had a hernia. We had a fear that could be behind it so we decided to do the surgery."
Double blow
In a double blow for the Gunners' backline, Wenger has already revealed that summer signing Carl Jenkinson is also struggling with a back complaint.
"We have had some bad news because we have lost two full-backs over the break but apart from that all the players came back in good shape and everybody is available," he continued.
"Carl has a stress fracture in his back. That's just about rest now. We discovered that because he had a pain in his back. First you monitor it, then play a little bit and then you check again because you are cautious.
"We found a small stress fracture that we noticed at an early stage. If he continued to play it could have got worse and then he could be out for a long time. So at the moment the specialist has decided to rest him."
He added: "[Abou Diaby and Marouane Chamakh] are both back in full training again. Diaby has been out for four or five months so he will need some adaptation. Chamakh is available for the weekend."
All clear
However, injured midfielder Wilshere has expressed his delight at being given the all-clear to lose his crutches for the first time since undergoing ankle surgery.
The teenage talent went under the knife two months ago after suffering a stress fracture in his right ankle during the summer.
"First day without crutches in a while! Feels so good!" he wrote on
Twitter.
Wilshere had originally hoped the injury would heal itself with the help of a protective boot, however, after undergoing surgery he is due to return in the New Year.
