But the Gunners’ great FA Cup escape at Deepdale finally saw the injury-plagued England forward make a brief appearance of the bench.
That news, as much as Arsenal continuing Wenger’s proud record of never having lost a third round FA Cup tie in his 20 years in England, was cause for celebration for the veteran boss.
And Wenger revealed the extent of the trauma that Welbeck has gone through over the past two seasons that has seen the 26-year-old miss the first half of last term and this entire campaign to date.
“He went from desperation because the setback he had was absolutely atrocious,” said the Arsenal boss.
“But he worked hard and certainly it will make him stronger. He suffered a lot but I hope, touch wood, that he now will have a clean career.”
Wenger spent hours talking with the former Manchester United star in a bid to help him cope with the mental anguish of his latest knee ligament injury.
But the Frenchman admitted the road back to fitness is a journey players must also travel on their own
“We talked with him of course but when players are injured they are a little bit out of my sight,” said Wenger.
“Of course we spoke with him a lot but at the end of the day, when something like that happens to you, you have to deal with it on your own. But we tried to support him of course.”
Welbeck almost scored with a long-range shot that was tipped over by keeper Chris Maxwell, but by then Olivier Giroud had already snatched the last-gasp winner
Preston outplayed Arsenal before the break and took the lead through Callum Robinson, only for the much-improved Gunners to equalise through Aaron Ramsey seconds after the restart.
Preston midfielder Ben Pearson thought the Premier League superstars might have underestimated the underdogs.
He said: “They didn’t start with the intensity we showed, maybe they thought it wasn’t going to be as hard as it was.”
