Sagna fit for Stoke test but Walcott injured – Arsenal Bos

Arsène Wenger had mixed injury news to report when he spoke to Arsenal TV Online on Thursday afternoon.

Bacary Sagna has recovered from his ankle injury and should be fit for the visit of Stoke on Saturday. However, Theo Walcott has a collected a short-term hamstring problem and will miss out.

Alex Song is suspended after receiving his fifth booking of the season on Wednesday at Manchester City. But, on the upside, the manager revealed that Robin Van Persie (ankle) and Kieran Gibbs (foot) are both recovering well from recent surgery.

"We had Sagna out injured [before] but, normally, he will be available," said Wenger.

"However, Theo Walcott will not be available. He has a hamstring injury.

"As for the other players we had injured, the long-term ones I do not even speak about. But the players who looked to be shorter - like Clichy, Diaby and Bendtner - will not be available. And, of course, Song is suspended for the weekend."

Gibbs and Van Persie are in the longer-term bracket but thankfully both are on the mend after surgery.

"Kieran is doing very well," said Wenger. "I had him on the phone and it looked to be completely fine. I have not talked to Robin yet but there again the news I got from the surgery was it went very, very well. There was a lot of disturbance on our side recently [about his injury] but the surgery went well."