Arsenal will have to do without Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey, yet again, as they target a seventh consecutive win in the Premier League when they host Middlesbrough on Saturday. The Gunners are coming off a 6-0 thumping of Ludogorets on Wednesday, and have looked really good going forward in recent games.
Giroud and Ramsey, though, will not add to that attack against Boro, with both players yet to fully recover from their respective injuries.
Wenger believes Giroud could be a part of the squad when Arsenal play Reading in the EFL Cup on Tuesday, but Ramsey will have to wait at least another week to return, since going off with a hamstring injury in the opening match of the season.
"Ramsey and Giroud are progressing well," Wenger told reporters. "Giroud could be, maybe, involved on Tuesday.
"Ramsey needs another week. He could possibly come back sooner, but we want to make sure he's fully sharp. Fitness-wise he's 90 per cent there and he could return for Sunderland."
While Ramsey and Giroud continue their recoveries, along with long-term victims Per Mertesacker and Danny Welbeck, Arsenal could also be without their little magician Santi Cazorla, who picked up an Achilles problem in the win over Ludogorets. Wenger took Cazorla off in that Champions League game as a precaution and the manager revealed the Spaniard will undergo a late test before a decision is made over his availability.
Cazorla will be a big miss for Arsenal if he is indeed ruled out, because he gives the side that deep-lying playmaking role that is so crucial. The other option, in case Cazorla is ruled out, Granit Xhaka is suspended for this match, after owing to the red card he picked up against Swansea City.
So, Wenger will probably then have to go with a midfield of Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny, and while they are really good players, they don't necessarily make the greatest of central midfield combinations and Arsenal's ability to create from a deeper position could be blunted as a result.
