It looks like all the injured players who are currently stuck in recovery, will be fit to play by the end of February. Is that good news or bad news? Why would it be bad news? Because none will be fully recovered. That means that even though they will be thrown into the line of battle, they will not be able to be 100% fit both physically and mentally. For example, let’s take Wilshere or Coquelin. Both are amazing down the midfield but will they be better than Oxlade-Chamberlain, Elneny or Arteta? Wilshere has been out since August and it`s hard to believe he will forget about the last couple of months and play like his life depended on it. Coquelin’s story is the same. He was on top of his game when he left the pitch in pain. A knee injury is next to muscle damage, one of the most mentally crippling injuries for a footballer. Looking back on those who suffered injuries such as the Frenchman you could see how several of them never bounced back. Hopefully Coquelin will be a success story, but that is not likely to happen in just one or two weeks.

Now let`s have a look at who else is returning from injury and what they will have to face during the next couple of months.

1. Danny Welbeck – 25 – According to Squawka, the striker will be back this week to train with the team. The speedy attacker is not likely to be featured in any Premier League fixture as part of the starting eleven until near the end of the season. He might get time on the pitch in other competitions but there are little to no chances of seeing him 90 minutes on the grass. Welbeck has been out for 283 days starting since March 2015. He got operated on and had almost 4 months to recover.
2. Santi Cazorla – 31 – The Spaniard who is also suffering from knee damage is expected to be back by Valentine’s Day. He’s been out since the 30^th of November meaning that he did not play for the past 70 days. Fortunately, he has a short injury history and none of his older issues emerged during his career. On the other hand, he was a lot younger when he had to handle those other problems. Out of Wilshere, Coquelin and Welbeck, Cazorla is the most likely to be featured in the most games by the end of the season.
3. Tomas Rosicky – 35 – Even though the midfielder made his comeback a couple of days back for the U21 team, we can still add him to the list as he was not yet included in Wenger’s plans. Honestly, the only way of seeing this very talented Czech international play for Arsenal once again will be if he gets a last game pass from Wenger. He will be leaving Emirates so he might get a chance to say farewell to the fans. Rosicky has reached a total of 225 days on his last injury which rounds up his time spent in recovery to an incredible 934 days.

Hopefully Wenger will work on the mental state of the players and everyone will be up and running by March. Not sure if two and a half months will be enough to get back to first place and win the title.