Arsene Wenger says Santi Cazorla or Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could be involved in Saturday’s game against Norwich City.
Cazorla has been out since suffering an injury in November - at Norwich - while Oxlade-Chamberlain has not played since February.
Wenger has a fully-fit squad to choose from this weekend and hinted that he may use first-team players in Tuesday’s under-21 play-off semi-final against Blackburn.
"Cazorla has been back for two weeks with the team now and Alex is in his first week"
Arsene Wenger
“We have to decide that at the weekend,” he said. “Let’s focus on tomorrow’s game and after that the players who do not play will have the opportunity to get some competition on Tuesday because we play at Emirates Stadium.
“One of [Cazorla or Oxlade-Chamberlain] could be involved against Norwich, I’ve not decided. But Cazorla has been back for two weeks with the team now and Alex is in his first week.”
Cazorla’s midfield partnership with Francis Coquelin was one of the positives of last season and his quality in possession has been missed. But Wenger believes Arsenal have still been creative in Cazorla’s absence.
“I would say the quality of our game has come back to a very good level,” said the manager. “I watch the games every day and you can look at the numbers in the league, the chances created. We have gone through a difficult spell, but I think the quality of the game has come back in the last month and a half.
“We have very strong numbers. We didn't make the maximum in our home results against the lower-table teams. But we analysed that quite well and we know it's not down to the quality of our game.”
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