The midfielder's comeback is set to be delayed
until his side enter the tournament in early January
as he makes a slow recovery from the knee injury
that he sustained in August
Arsenal are hopeful that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
will make his long awaited comeback from injury
in the FA Cup third round.
The England international has not played since
suffering a knee injury in the Gunners' defeat to
Aston Villa on the opening day of the Premier
League season.
Arsenal initially ruled Oxlade-Chamberlain out for
three months but the damage to the midfielder's
left knee has proved more severe than initially
feared.
Goal understands that the north Londoners have
now targeted the FA Cup third round, which takes
place on the first weekend of January, for his
return.
Oxlade-Chamberlain's comeback date has
constantly changed over the last month. He started
doing light running outdoors a fortnight ago and
there had been hope from both parties that he
could return to first team action by late November.
However, Arsenal's medical staff quickly hauled the
player back indoors after it emerged that he was
not ready and slowed down his rehabilitation.
Oxlade-Chamberlain strained his medial knee
ligaments in a collision with Villa's Antonio Luna
during the 3-1 defeat on August 17.
Arsene Wenger said in the wake of scans on the
player's knee that he would be out for "six weeks"
before the player went on Twitter to reveal that he
would "hopefully be back playing in three months.
Should Oxlade-Chamberlain be back by the
weekend of January 4 and 5, he will have been
sidelined for four-and-a-half months in total - half
of the season.
It has been a demoralising spell for the 20-year-
old, who had got the nod over Lukas Podolski to
start on the left flank in the season opener and had
been expected to be given more game time this
season, his third at the club.
Oxlade-Chamberlain is also running out of time to
make a firm case to be included in Roy Hodgson's
23-man squad that will represent England in the
World Cup finals next summer.
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