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Premier League: Arsene Wenger explains injury which has sidelined Arsenal's Mesut Ozil for six weeks

Image: Arsene Wenger: Insists Mesut Ozil did not tell him about the pain in his knee until after the scan with Germany

Arsene Wenger has confirmed Mesut Ozil will be out for at least six weeks with a knee ligament injury and says the forward only told him about feeling "a crack" in his knee following a scan, not during Arsenal's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea.

Wenger was responding to reports that he knew about the injury, which forced the midfielder to miss Germany's European Qualifiers against Poland and the Republic of Ireland, during the game at Stamford Bridge on October 5.

I told him (Ozil) 'if you don't feel well, tell me and I will take you off straight away'.
Arsene Wenger

"He didn't tell me anything during the game. I didn't even know," said the Gunners boss. "At half-time, just before we went out, the physio told me he had a little pain in his knee but it was not bad and he wanted to play on. 

"I told him 'if you don't feel well, tell me and I will take you off straight away.' He did not do that and I left him on for the whole game because we needed to score goals and he can deliver the final ball.

"Then he went away with Germany and they thought at the start it was nothing. He was supposed to practice on Wednesday and that morning he said he still could not practice. They sent him for a scan and discovered that he had a knee ligament injury that is quite serious."

Wenger will also be without centre-half Laurent Koscielny for Saturday's Premier League game against Hull at the Emirates.

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The France international is also a doubt for next week's Champions League clash at Anderlecht, although he confirmed the 29-year-old will not need surgery despite suffering tendonitis in both heels.

However, Arsenal will be boosted by the imminent return of Theo Walcott, who has returned to full training after 10 months out with an anterior cruciate injury.

The winger, who is not in contention for Saturday, suffered the injury in the 2-0 FA Cup win over Tottenham in January and will play for the Under-21s on Friday.

Aaron Ramsey is also closing on a return from a hamstring injury picked up in the 1-1 draw with Spurs last month.

The midfielder will return to training on Monday next week, while striker Olivier Giroud is "ahead of schedule" in his recovery from a broken leg.

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