Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Lucas Perez will be unavailable for 6-8 weeks after damaging his ankle ligaments in the victory against Reading on Tuesday, in a challenge which the Arsenal boss claims was a “deliberate kick”.
Speaking ahead of the game against Sunderland at the weekend, Wenger has expressed his disappointment for the player, after only recently signing from Deportivo La Coruna for £17.1m in the summer.
“He’s absolutely gutted because it’s an injury coming from nowhere and a stupid one,” Wenger said.
“It was a kick, a deliberate kick,” he added. “It’s very frustrating because he worked very hard to get there. Now he’s close. It was not needed.”
Perez has been ruled out of a number of key fixtures for the club with the 28-year-old set to miss the north London derby against Tottenham next month, alongside fixtures against Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as the run-up to Christmas.
Arsenal are likely to be without Santi Cazorla for the trip to Sunderland but could welcome Aaron Ramsey back into the fold after his injury lay off.
