Arsenal ace Welbeck ruled out until Christmas as Wenger's striker crisis continues

Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck has been ruled out until Christmas after knee surgery

ARSENAL were hit with a major blow last night as striker Danny Welbeck was ruled out until Christmas after knee surgery.

 

Welbeck had an operation on his troublesome left knee on Wednesday after breaking down in his recovery from the cartilage injury sustained at the end of April, and is expected to be out for at least three months.

The injury leaves Arsene Wenger short of firepower having tried and failed to sign Karim Benzema of Real Madrid and Paris St Germain's Edinson Cavani during the transfer window.

Wenger now only has Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott, who he has seemed reluctant to try in a central striking position, to lead his front line until Christmas.

 

Welbeck's injury leaves Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger with just two recognised strikers

Arsenal said in a statement last night: "It had been hoped Danny would avoid surgery but after increasing his training workload, the injury to his cartilage did not respond as well as hoped and the decision was taken last week for him to undergo surgery."

The Gunners made the decision that Welbeck should go under the knife before the transfer window shut on Tuesday, which only adds to the pressure on Wenger after his failure to sign a single outfield player over the summer.

Welbeck, 24, who joined Arsenal from Manchester United in a £16million deal on last season's deadline day, has scored four goals in 25 league games for the club, but has struggled with knee problems. The striker's last game was against Chelsea on April 26.

 

Ironically, the news broke on the day his Gunners team-mate Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain admitted that before the start of this season, he had not played a game fully-fit since he was a teenager.

His performances have been one of the bright spots of a stuttering start to the campaign by Arsenal and are likely to earn him a place in England's starting line-up in San Marino tomorrow evening.

But after damaging his cruciate ligaments in the opening-day defeat against Aston Villa two years ago - just two days after his 20th birthday - Oxlade-Chamberlain has not been completely free from injury problems until now.

He has played 68 times for club and country during those 24 months, but always with a niggling doubt in the back of his mind.

 

"The injuries were a knock-on effect from the cruciate injury that I had from the first day of the season a couple of years ago," he said. "It's all been a chain reaction from that, just being out for five or six months for the first time in your life.

"It ended up in my groins from the compensation and I struggled with that for a large part of last season.

"There were times when I tried to get up from the bed or from sitting on the sofa and I was in so much pain. I would play 90 minutes and I couldn't get round it in my head that I was struggling with the simplest of tasks but was still playing games.

"Then towards the end of the season something turned the screw, I don't know what. All of a sudden it went away as if nothing had happened."

One piece of good news for Wenger last night was that midfielder Jack Wilshere could be back in contention for their next game at home to Stoke on September 12, with his recovery from a hairline fracture in the left fibula going according to plan.