Injury News: Arsenal Striker Out Till 2015.

Arsenal forward Olivier Giroud is not expected to make a return this year after undergoing an ankle injury on Wednesday.

The Frenchman suffered a fracture in the closing seconds of Arsenal’s 2-2 draw against Everton last Saturday. This ugly occurrence came after he equalized for the Gunners who were trailing 2-0 at half-time. At first we were made to believe he would be out of action for three months but there was a change in his return date after the surgery was completed.

In an interview with Sky Sports after Arsenal beat Besiktas to go through to the group stage of the Champions League, Arsene Wenger revealed his fellow countryman would be out for a very long time.

"The news is that he had surgery today and the surgery went well but he will be out -- maybe to be competitive at the top, top level - until the end of December, beginning of January", said the manager.

One would expect that since his first choice striker is injured, he will be looking to sign a new one before the transfer window closes on September 1 but Wenger has said he does not have to bring in any as he already has several players who can fit into that position.

"We will try to look around but we want quality and we have quality," he said. "I bought Sanchez to be a striker and I think Walcott can be a good striker as well. Sanogo can be a good striker, Podolski can play there and Campbell if you ask what he is, he's a striker. They are players of quality and we will see."

Wenger continued: "We will concede in England that every time you have a problem you can't just buy. After the first of September you still have to live with it."

Giroud was unavailable for Besiktas so Wenger played Alexis Sanchez in that role and that paid off few seconds to the end of the first half as the former Barcelona man scored the only goal of the double-legged battle. That goal was his first for Arsenal. We expect to see him deployed as a striker more often.