Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla out for three more months due to ankle surgery

The Gunners hierarchy have revealed that the Spanish playmaker will have an operation in Sweden on his ankle on Monday and that as a result he will be sidelined in recovery for at least three months.

The Gunners now sit fourth in the Premier League table, three points behind leaders Chelsea ahead of Saturday’s trip to West Ham. I try to put everything into place to avoid surgery.

“When we are getting closed down, he gets you out of tight situations and creates openings for the team”.

Click through the gallery above to see five potential replacements for injured Santi Cazorla.

Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny are both defensive-minded players, Granit Xhaka is still adapting to the Premier League and Aaron Ramsey, while a brilliant player on his day, lacks consistency and pace.

“The doctor says to me it’s a quick surgery and I’ll be back in two months”. “There are two reasons [not to buy]”. We have had injuries where you can question the preparation of the players, we had very few muscle injuries. “Secondly in January you won’t necessarily find another Cazorla”.

Debuchy made his first appearance in more than a year in last weekend’s win over Bournemouth. The 31-year-old has recently undergone a surgery for his recurring “Achilles” problem and is unlikely to return until March.

“It’s a severe hamstring injury. Six weeks (out), I think”, said Wenger.

“Yes, of course. I believe on the injury front this season we have been very strong”. He fights very hard, has exceptional attitude.

“With most loan agreements there are certain clauses”.

“Giroud is short, but has a chance to be available for Saturday”, he said. “But usually he recovers quickly”. Before his ineligibility against parent club Arsenal on Sunday, he had started the last eight Premier League games and completed 90 minutes in his last four outings. “He wants to get out of that vicious circle of coming out and back in again”.

‘He has lost confidence because but that will come back.

“The anti-inflammatory injections have not got rid of it”.

“The surgeon, the specialist we consulted, made a decision to have an exploratory surgery”.