Speaking in his press conference ahead of tomorrow’s game against Aston Villa, Arsène Wenger has revealed the latest news regarding Abou Diaby’s injury problems and answered questions related to rumours that Lukas Podolski had passed a medical with the club earlier this week.

Other than news on Diaby’s injury, there seem to be no new injury concerns, and Wenger could only tell us that Jack Wilshere’s rehabilitation has been “positive”.

Abou Diaby

About Diaby has only played a total of 54 minutes for the first team this season, but has previously shown signs of the potential that he can reach once he gets a string of first-team appearances together without any injury problems. Wenger seems to be very confident in the Frenchman, but will not risk further injury setbacks by rushing him back unnecessarily. Abou scored on his comeback for the reserves earlier this week, but is not fit enough to return to first-team action. He will not feature tomorrow.

“Diaby is available again, but he should be in the group next week. I don’t want to take any gamble on him now [against Aston Villa]. Apart from that it will be the same squad as at Everton.

“He can be massive for us, but at the moment we have had so many setbacks with him that we don’t want to take a gamble. He needs another game [for the reserves], and then he will be ready.”

Lukas Podolski

After he was bombarded with questions about the transfer of Lukas Podolski, Arsène Wenger seemed very reluctant to give away too much information but did dismiss claims that Podoksli has already passed his medical. Le Boss also spoke briefly about any concerns that other clubs may step in.

 “Nothing is done. No, he has not had a medical.

“I don’t master the timing [of any announcement] because that does not just rely on us. It could happen soon, it could happen later, I don’t know.

“It is always a concern [that someone else could come in for him]. The speed in which you do things is important, but at the end of the day it is always the player who makes the decision.

“It is about how much they want to join you.”

The gist of the conversation between Wenger and the journalists seems to be that we are closing in on Podolski but the club can’t confirm anything until it is done. There is always the possibility of other clubs stepping in and stealing him, but the played himself seems to want to play for Arsenal. Asked whether he thought that Podolski would be an Arsenal player next season Wenger replied: “You try to make me say what I don’t want to say, and you do it very well, but I cannot give you any more information at the moment.”