LUKAS PODOLSKI and Olivier Giroud will not be fit enough to start the new Premier League season for Arsenal.
The strike duo arrived for pre-season late after Euro 2012 so were not taken on the Gunners’ tour of Asia.And boss Arsene Wenger admitted: “Podolski and Giroud may take longer than expected.
"I cannot play them in pre-season so I will ease them into the Premier League."
Germany’s Podolski, 27, cost £11million from Cologne and Frenchman Giroud, 25, joined from Montpellier for £12.8m.
Wenger also concedes it is a “big blow” that Tomas Rosicky will miss at least the first month of the campaign following an Achilles operation, while Bacary Sagna will not be fit to play in the opening weeks following a broken leg.
Meanwhile, the Frenchman has made it clear that Nicklas Bendtner, Ju Young Park and Sebastien Squillaci will not play for the club again but claims Andrey Arshavin could still have a future.
Wenger said: “Bendtner, Squillaci and Park will be on their way to go somewhere.
"Arshavin, it depends, we have to sit together and talks. He could still have a future at the club.
“Sagna will be short for the start of the season and Rosicky will not be back until September, in my opinion.
"Rosicky did fantastically well for us at the end of the season so it is a big blow. The injury he has got comes from the European Championships.
“Theo Walcott and Gervinho are both ready, they are sharp physically. Defensively we have work to do as we were not stable in any of the games. That is where we have work to do. A lot of work.
“Apart from that, we should have scored more goals from the chances we had but that will come from physical sharpness.”
Arsenal’s second tour of Asia has certainly been a massive success in terms of a public relations exercise.
Like the match in Malaysia and Beijing, thousands of fans in Arsenal shirts flocked to the impressive Hong Kong Stadium for the club's final tour game with Kitchee.
But as Wenger happily concedes, some of the defending was poor.
Yago Lopez captitalised on some sloppy play by Agnasi Miquel to score past Wojciech Szczesny, playing his first game since being sent off for Poland against Greece at Euro 2012.
Walcott equalised before delighting the home fans by celebrating by using a Chinese handsign meaning respect.
Spaniard Daniel Rodriguez put Kitchee 2-1 up before German sub Thomas Eisfeld grabbed the equaliser.
The form of midfielder Eisfeld, 19, a £420,000 signing from Dortmund in January, has been one of the major plus points of the tour and he is likely to be on the fringes of the first team this season.
Wenger said: “Eisfeld is composed, intelligent, mobile, he makes the game come alive.
"I think every time he came on you could see something straight away. He has an impact on the game.
"He makes himself available and his passing is intelligent and he is good in the box. You cannot teach a player that. He earns maximum points on this trip."
Wenger added: "There are other positives from this tour.
"We had fights in every game and it was a great experience for the players, seeing different places and to see how much people care about our club.
“We also have learned what it is to like to play when you are tired.
"We love Malaysia and we love China. Hong Kong is absolutely amazing. Here it has everything you want — the sea, a nice city and good football.
"In my next life, maybe I will come here.”
Source :TheSun.co.uk
