Arsenal team news: Theo Walcott in contention but Aaron Ramsey out as Arsene Wenger arrives four hours late
Both Aaron Ramsey and Gabriel Paulista remain absent for Arsenal's trip to Hull on Saturday
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger arrived four hours late for his pre-match press conference on Friday after the Arsenal manager was caught in traffic caused by the atrocious weather conditions overnight in the south east, though he arrived with good news to confirm that Theo Walcott is available once again for this weekend’s trip to Hull.
With the M25 grinding to a halt on Friday morning – Wenger joked that “the M25 will be fined” rather than the players – Wenger missed his usual 9am slot and instead took training before facing the media.
The Arsenal manager will be able to call on Walcott once again this weekend after the forward missed the mid-week trip to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, but he also confirmed that the match on Saturday comes too soon for Aaron Ramsey and Gabriel Paulista – the latter of which could play in Tuesday’s EFL Cup match at Nottingham Forest.
"Walcott could be back in the squad. He will be assessed,” Wenger said. “Ramsey is still out. Gabriel is back in training, he might play Tuesday."
One decision Wenger took on Tuesday in Paris was to leave £35m summer signing Granit Xhaka on the substitutes’ bench until the 71st minute, and he was an unused replacement in last weekend’s victory over Southampton, prompting fans to question why Wenger was reluctant to play the Swiss midfielder.
But although Xhaka has only started two of his five matches at Arsenal, Wenger insisted he will go on to become a key player among his squad.
"Xhaka is adapting to the pace of the English game,” he said. “But he will play games. I think he will have a huge impact. I personally prefer him as a box-to-box player because he has the engine, he has the power, he has the long pass. He likes to come deep and distribute the game but I think he has as well the engine to have an impact with his runs.”
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