Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says key midfielder Santi Cazorla may not be fully fit at the start of the season.
Cazorla made his first appearance of the preseason by playing the first half of Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Mexican club Guadalajara in Los Angeles on Sunday as Wenger eases him back into action.
The Spaniard missed five months of last season with a serious knee injury before picking up an Achilles problem, but started the last game of the Premier League campaign.
Wenger says the midfielder may not have regained full match fitness by the start of the new season, potentially adding to his shortage of players for the opening game against Liverpool on Aug. 14.
“At the moment he is not completely there on the fitness front. That’s why I took him off at half-time,” Wenger said at his postmatch news conference. “He’s a bit behind the others physically but I think he will be alright, maybe not on Aug. 15, but at the end of August he should be alright.”
Arsenal already face the prospect of being without key quartet Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud, Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey for that game after they were given extended holidays following Euro 2016.
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