Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain hamstring setback puts Arsenal return on hold

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Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has suffered a minor setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was hoping to have the midfielder back for Saturday's visit to West Bromwich Albion but he could be back for the clash against Norwich next weekend.

Nevertheless, the news comes as another blow to the former Southampton man, whose career has been blighted by injury concerns.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has suffered a minor setback in his recovery from a hamstring injury

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was hoping to have him back for Saturday's West Brom trip

'He had a slight little setback on Monday but we checked it by scan and there is nothing wrong but he is still a fraction short,' confirmed Wenger.

There was more promising news on the injury front for Wenger, however, with the imminent returns of Hector Bellerin and Aaron Ramsey.

Bellerin is available at the Hawthorns on Saturday while Ramsey is set to return for Wednesday's Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb.

Theo Walcott, who is suffering with a hamstring injury, is ahead of schedule and will return to full training in two weeks, according to Wenger who is set to pick Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny on Saturday despite their traumatic week following the Paris attacks.

The pending returns of Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott will enable Wenger to give star-man Alexis Sanchez a mid-season break.

Sportsmail revealed last week that Wenger plans to give the Chilean some time off to recharge his batteries before the crucial season climax.

The news comes as another blow to the Ox, whose career has been blighted by injury concerns.

The Arsenal manager confirmed his intention yesterday, but admitted his current injury problems makes it virtually impossible to take Sanchez out of the team.

'At some point yes (I will give him a break,' said Wenger. 'At the moment I am a bit short because no Chamberlain, no Ramsey, no Walcott, no [Jack] Wilshere and no [Danny] Welbeck, there's not much offensive positions where I can rotate.

'I am worried [about Sanchez] because when he went to Chile for international duty he was already a bit jaded. But when you speak to the player and if ask him if he is tire you can guess the answer.'

There was some promising news on the injury front for Wenger with the imminent return of Aaron Ramsey