When Per Mertesacker went down injured in the 32nd minute of our Community Shield win against Chelsea, it was not a pretty sight.
With blood pouring from a gash in his forehead, our club captain looked in pain - but Arsene Wenger says that it is not serious.
This is what he had to say:
on Per Mertesacker…
He had a cut on his forehead. It’s nothing bad. It was just bleeding and open, but it’s not bad.
on whether Per’s substitution should be considered as a ‘tactical substitution’ as it was forced…
I don’t believe that, I think that we are allowed five substitutions - that is enough. It’s just an incident of disappointment. We are happy tonight and that’s it. Let’s just focus on the next game and try to start well. We play Leicester, they have experience and have the same team for four years now and that will be another battle.
on Mesut Ozil and Aaron Ramsey…
I left them all out because some are short of preparation like Alexis. Mesut got a kick on his ankle and it’s swollen so he couldn’t play. He couldn’t practise yesterday. We’ll see but he has a little chance of playing on Friday night. Aaron Ramsey has a chance of playing but I think he could be short as well with a small calf problem.
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