Arsenal duo Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud are likely to miss the start of the new Premier League season.
Both Podolski and Giroud were signed by the Gunners this summer but arrived late for pre-season because of Euro 2012 commitments for Germany and France respectively.
The strikers were left out of Arsenal's pre-season tour of Asia, and club manager Arsene Wenger has now given the hint that they may not be ready for the start of the new campaign.
"I will have to ease them in," the Frenchman is quoted as saying in The Sun.
Arsenal will begin the 2012-13 Premier League season with a home game against Sunderland on Saturday, August 18.
