Arsenal do battle with Manchester United this Saturday, the club’s first game since the international break. Beforehand, they had blown a three goal lead against Anderlecht and threw away the game at Swansea.

If the Gunners are looking to get back on track this weekend they will have to do it the hard way, the North London side are without a win over their great rivals since 2011. The Red Devils have come out victorious in four of the last six meetings, but have won just once at the Emirates in the last four years.

In Arsene Wenger’s pre-match press conference he revealed valuable players could make their return from injuries against Louis van Gaal’s men.

Olivier Giroud has played four times this season due to a broken leg suffered in the draw with Everton, in which he scored the equaliser. The 28-year-old had been ruled until the new year but is miles ahead of schedule and is set to return on Saturday evening, Wenger said:

“He [Giroud] is three or four weeks ahead of schedule. Originally we planned to have him back for competition at the beginning of next year. So he's one month ahead.”

The 65-year-old also talked about the availability of captain Mikel Arteta, following his absence through a hamstring injury the Spaniard sustained earlier in the month. The Frenchman stated: “Giroud and Arteta are both available. It's just a question of how ready they are. But they are available.”

Giroud played a huge part in Arsenal’s success last season. Being the only recognisable striker in the squad, the French international scored 22 goals in all competitions and provided 12 assists. The former Montpellier forward has only partaken in 209 minutes of football this term but has already notched up two vital goals.

Danny Welbeck was brought in from Manchester United to replace Giroud, the first player to swap Old Trafford for the Emirates since Mikael Silvestre in 2008. Although the attention has been on the red hot Alexis Sanchez, Welbeck has adapted well in an Arsenal shirt whilst maintaining his excellent goalscoring record for England. Wenger proclaimed:

“Yes [The team relied on Welbeck], and on Sanchez as well. But we have Giroud back, we have Walcott back. Slowly they will integrate into the team again and give us different options.”

The injury crisis is seemingly coming to an end, for now. The manager also confirmed record signing Mesut Ozil will only be available after December. The real problems though, have been in defense. Many criticized ‘Le Prof’ for not bringing in a central defender to replace the departing Thomas Vermaelen, the situation was highly exacerbated with Mathieu Debuchy and Laurent Koscielny sustaining injuries.

The team have conceded more points from winning positions than any other this campaign, with the back four seemingly to blame. According to Arsene Wenger the French duo are nearing a return:

“Koscielny and Debuchy are doing well, they are out on the field [working] again. We have to see now. Usually fieldwork is three weeks away from full group training. Then there is fitness.”

“It looks straightforward for Debuchy. It's not inflammation, it's just repairing surgery. For Koscielny, it depends how well he responds to training. At the moment he looks good.”

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About the author
Conor de Smith
Trying to make it in journalism. Contributing to VAVEL since July 2013.