Arsenal Injury News: Arsene Wenger Blames World Cup for Current Crisis at Emirates

Arsene Wenger attributes Arsenal's current injury crisis to the summer World Cup.

Several of the Gunners' first team regulars took part in the event in Brazil for their respective national sides. One of the star players, Mesut Ozil, who was with Germany's World Cup winning squad, will be out of action till the end of this year with a knee injury.

French internationals Olivier Giroud and Mathieu Debuchy are set to spend more time on the treatment table until December. The duo's compatriot Laurent Koscielny has a chronic Achilles injury and will be out of action for a month.

"There are a lot of post-World Cup injuries and not many soft tissue injuries. I gave them (the World Cup players) until August 11, Germany played the final on 13 July, that was a month and should be enough after a big competition," Wenger explained.

"For example, Giroud - I don't know what we can do about Giroud's injury. Debuchy was on his own when he did the ankle."

"Then you have Ozil. You know how Ozil did the injury? Passing the ball with the oustide of his left foot. He must have done that a million times. Ozil was on his own. He told me he just wanted to give the ball like that and heard a little crack."

"Koscielny has an Achilles problem, which has got worse. He finds it difficult to play with it at the moment. You can only trust what the players says, he does not feel ready to play and will not play on Saturday."

"An inflammation of an Achilles tendon, if you wait for it to be better, it can be a short time. If you want to get rid of it completely, it is long term."

"I think we have made progress. What's different is we have a bit more prevention than before for the players to prepare for the competition. For us this season, we had big injuries and coincidental injuries," the Arsenal manager concluded.

The only positives for Wenger and Arsenal are Theo Walcott and Serge Gnabry, who have returned to full training after injuries last season.

Welsh international Aaron Ramsey will also be back in training after he picked up a hamstring injury against Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal will face Hull City in the Premier League clash on Saturday and would be looking to bounce back from their 2-0 defeat to Chelsea.