Van Persie and Gibbs undergo successful surgery

Arsene Wenger has received some welcome news on the injury front, with the Arsenal boss revealing Robin van Persie and Kieran Gibbs both had successful surgery.

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Arsene Wenger knows he needs to replace the injured Robin Van Persie.

Van Persie, 26, suffered an ankle injury while on international duty with Holland and will be out for around five months, but Wenger is relieved that there were no complications with his operation. Left-back Kieran Gibbs, who has gone under the knife for his fractured foot, also came through as well as could be hoped.

"Kieran is doing very well,'' Wenger said. "I had him on the phone and it looked to be completely fine. I have not talked to Robin yet but there again the news I got from the surgery was it went very, very well. There was a lot of disturbance on our side recently [about his injury] but the surgery went well.''

Andrey Arshavin has highlighted the problem of holding the ball up in attack without Van Persie. The previously free-scoring team have not found the net in three domestic league and cup games since Van Persie's injury, although they managed a 2-0 win over Standard Liege in the Champions League.