As many fans would agree Santi Cazorla is the most under-rated Arsenal player. After he was injured last season the team was not the same and struggled to perform at the same level without the super-gifted Spanish midfield maestro. This season’s campaign has gotten off to a great start in no small part to the heroics of the two-footed Spanish midfielder who has formed such a key part of Arsenal in attack.

Unfortunately as The Star is reporting Cazorla is not ready to return from the Achilles injury he sustained while playing in the Champions League Group A game against Bulgarian side Ludogorets on October 19th. Cazorla lead Arsenal to a comprehensive win that night before he had to limp off as the Gunners simply blew the Bulgarian outfit away at the Emirates, drubbing their opponents 6-0. The injury seemed minor at the time but now almost a month on the diminutive Spaniard is not fit enough to return and it will be a minor miracle if he manages to play against Manchester United in the early game at Old Trafford in the Premier League this coming Saturday.

Speaking to a local Spanish radio station (Cadena COPE), Cazorla has confirmed that sadly his return to action is not due to happen anytime soon and he had this to say specifically about the injury which has sidelined him for the best part of a month:

“I still don’t know the exact time.

“I am trying to return as soon as possible and be with the team again, but I cannot say if it will be soon or if I still have a few weeks left.

“It is what I do not know, but hopefully it will be as soon as possible.”

Cazorla is a big miss for the Gunners and all at the club will be eagerly hoping his recovery speeds up and allows him to play sooner rather than later as Arsenal are a much more creative and effective outfit with the little maestro in the side.

The other major injury concern is Alexis Sanchez who leads the Gunners with 8 goals so far this season and has played as the centre-forward to such great effect since being asked to play there by boss Arsene Wenger. Sanchez got injured in training with Chile as they prepared to face Colombia in a World Cup qualifier last Thursday and was forced to miss the game due to the ”low-grade muscle injury” he picked up. The warrior like Sanchez hates to miss games and was back in the Chilean team to face Uruguay last night in their World Cup qualifier in Santiago and of course the superstar lead his side to an excellent 3-1 win as he added a fine brace to lead his country to the all important win.

Arsenal will be keen to have their medical staff attend to Sanchez once he is back in London in the hopes of having him ready to face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Saturday. As we wrote earlier on in the week Wenger is particularly nervous during international breaks as he knows how often players return injured. The Gunners’ manager will be praying that Sanchez is alright and will be fit to lead the line against United as he needs all his key players if he is finally to end the hoodoo that Jose Mourinho has over him as the French boss has never won a competitive fixture against his Portuguese rival.

This is the first time Wenger will face Mourinho in his current guise as United manager and the Arsenal boss will be hoping it leads to a change in fortunes for him as he will deperately want to win the match and put to bed the insulting “specialist in failure” tag which Mourinho gave Wenger due to his winless record against the Portuguese manager.

On current form you would say Arsenal are more than due to end the unfortunate winless streak for Wenger. His counterpart seems to be going from one incident to another as United struggle to maintain any kind of consistency in their performances and results.