The French defender has been struggling for fitness after coming off in Sunday’s 3-0 victory over Manchester City in the Community Shield and many feared he would miss the first few games of the new Premier League campaign.
Koscielny back in training
However, the Daily Mail report the experienced defender has returned to full training and is now expected to be fit for the Gunners season-opener against Crystal Palace.
Arsene Wenger was facing a dilemma who to play in central defence with Per Mertesacker only returning to pre-season training on Monday after his excursions with Germany during the World Cup.
No more defensive players required?
Callum Chambers is one option, having played their in all three of his pre-season appearances, but the Arsenal manager was looking to sign another defender to help cope with the loss of Koscielny.
Thankfully that doesn’t appear to be the case now that the France international has returned to full training.
Arsene Wenger also confirmed to the official club website that Koscielny had returned to training and it is likely he and Chambers will line up as our central defensive pairing against Crystal Palace.
Arseblog quoted the Arsenal boss, he said:
“Koscielny had a knock on his Achilles but he should be available for Saturday.”
Injury update on squad
He also gave an update on various on the other players struggling with injuries at the moment, Wenger added: “Diaby’s back in full training – that’s good news. He needs to play a few games but this week he looked good in training.
“David Ospina is two or three weeks away. He has a thigh strain from the Brazil vs Colombia game.
“Ryo Miyaichi is very close after injury and Theo Walcott is, as I always said, end of August or start of September. That is back into training of course.
“Serge Gnabry is not ready as well. I am not sure about the timeframe at the moment.”
So mixed news overall on the injury front but definitely a massive positive that our French central defender should be fit for the Premier League opener.
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