PER MERTESACKER has revealed his relief that Arsenal’s injury nightmare
appears to be finally ending.
Boss Arsene Wenger has been hit hard this season with Jack Wilshere, Tomas
Rosicky, Santi Cazorla, Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez among those
suffering spells on the sidelines.
Sanchez is back playing after a two-month spell out while Welbeck
scored in his first game of the season as a 95th minute header clinched a
2-1 winner for Arsenal over Leicester.
Wenger
is now hoping Wilshere, yet to play this term, will be back next month.
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Team skipper Mertesacker, now preparing for Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Hull,
said: “Danny does play a big part – we need players coming back. We had a
lot of long-term injuries which saw us struggle, when we played almost the
same team in December and January.
“Players who gave us great energy stepped in for other players but now we need
players to come back and make the difference as you could see against
Leicester.
“There is always a bit of a concern with long-term injuries. When they are
injuries for two, three or four weeks you can cover, but if you have got
more than three or four players have injuries that are five or six months,
that takes a lot of time.
“We are happy now to have him back, a few others not far but we need all
players.”
Mertesacker admitted the last-gasp win over Leicester
could prove to be crucial.
He said: “When the ref blew the whistle for the final time it was a big
relief, honestly. The energy that created was absolutely fantastic, for us,
for the fans, for everyone at this club. Everyone is very focussed now but
relieved as well.
“We kept believing. We had some bad finishing, at times, especially in the
box, but we kept doing our job, kept focussing on ourselves.
“Danny went through a bad period, an injured period where he kept believing in
himself when everyone maybe doubted him. It was a great chance for him to
come in and show that he is ready and ready to give everything to the team.
“He was always integrated in the team but when you feature on the pitch and
give the team such a great goal and energy, it gives someone a big lift.”