Theo Walcott and Andre Santos remain sidelined for Saturday’s away game with Aston Villa, although Kieran Gibbs is available.

Confirming that there are no new injuries after the win over Montpellier the boss revealed that Walcott, the club’s current top scorer, would not make the journey to Villa due to his shoulder complaint but could be ready for Wednesday’s evening showdown with Everton.

Brazilian Santos will not be ready for either trip with his abdominal problem ruling him out for another 10 days, although there was good news regarding Kieran Gibbs, who having been on the bench last night will challenge Thomas Vermaelen for the left-back slot, and Tomas Rosicky who will join the first team squad in full training from Monday.

Unfortunately, the news on Abou Diaby is not so great with the boss reiterating that the midfielder is not going to be available for at least 3-4 weeks. It’s got to the point where you can’t help but think the talk of weeks rather than months is solely for the sake of the player’s mental state.

It’s a very sad state of affairs, and while some will naturally point to Diaby’s big pay packet as a consolation, I bet he’d swap all the cash in the world for a career without injuries.