Arsenal will be without star midfielder Santi Cazorla until Christmas, Arsene Wenger has conceded.
Cazorla, 31, hasn’t featured for the Gunners since developing an Achilles problem in Arsenal’s 6-0 win over Ludogorets Razgrad over a month ago.
The Spain international was expected to have returned by now after initially picking up the injury, but Wenger has revealed it’s been a difficult injury to control.
Wenger is optimistic Cazorla will return to training in the next two weeks, but admitted it would take a further fortnight before he would be ready to return to first-team action.
“It’s not a big injury that will harm his future, but it’s an inflammation at the back of his Achilles,” The Independent quote Wenger as saying on the eve of their clash with Paris Saint-Germain.
“It’s always difficult with inflammation to give a set time. My gut signings is it will be short, two weeks. But when a player comes back to full training it still takes two weeks for a player to be ready to play again.”
It means that Cazorla could miss Arsenal’s remaining eight games in the run up to Christmas, which include their final two Champions League group stage matches, as well as league fixtures against Manchester City and Everton.
Cazorla’s absence in the middle of the midfield has been evident this season. In fact, Arsenal are unbeaten with Cazorla in the league when he has been in the starting XI (85.7%), while the Gunners have only won one of five matches in which he hasn’t started.
For more stats on Santi Cazorla, click here to visit his WhoScored player page
