Injury Crisis at Arsenal 9 February, 2008

I cannot emphasise enough how much I loathe these pointless international friendlies. I said at the beginning of the week that we couldn’t afford any more injuries this week, and I was right but it never stopped them going and getting injured did it? Like fuck it did. We’re now down to the very bare bones, here’s how our squad stands at the moment:

1. Lehmann – fit
2. Diaby – calf problem
3. Sagna – fit
4. Fabregas – fit
5. Toure – ANC*
6. Senderos – knee ligament damage*
7. Rosicky – another hamstring problem
9. Eduardo – fit!
10. Gallas – fit!
11. van Persie – thigh injury, long way off
13. Hleb – fit
15. Denilson – hamstring
16. Flamini – hamstring*
17. Song – ANC Final
19. Gilberto – fit
20. Djourou – groin problem
21. Fabianski – fit
22. Clichy – fit
24. Almunia – he’s ill*
25. Adebayor – fit, thank god
26. Bendtner – fit
27. Eboue – ANC
30. Traore – fit
31. Hoyte – fit
32. Walcott – fit

There you have it. There are only 14 names there with the word ‘fit’ next to them, two of which are goalkeepers. That’s not even a full squad! There are some ‘possibiles’ though, I’ve put asterisks next to the few of those that might make it. Kolo Toure plays the 3rd & 4th place play-off today in the African Nations Cup but Arsene says he might need to call him back for Monday night for Senderos. Phil picked up a knee injury against England but Arsene says, “He has played with it before and we’ll see on Monday.” I guess that one’s a case of how bad it is but if he’s out then either Kolo’s going to need to come back or it’s Gilberto or Hoyte at the back. Toure will be knackered after a busy tournament in Ghana so I doubt he’d be fully fit for a Monday night game.

Almunia had a thumb problem last weekend but he’s recovered from that only to fall ill this week. They’re going to see how he feels this weekend but to be honest he’s the least of my concerns, I’ve got now problem with Lehmann in goal. Flamini also has an asterisks next to him, Wenger says we ‘might have lost him’ , so again with him we’ll just have to wait and see.

Thankfully we’ve still got Hleb, Gallas, Fabregas, Clichy, Sagna, Adebayor and Eduardo. Luckily a lot of our injuries are to some of our least important players; I suppose we have to be grateful for that. Hopefully one or two will find enough fitness over the weekend to play on Monday night but more build up to that game tomorrow.

In other news Wenger has been talking about the idea to stage a Premiership game abroad. He thinks it’s an innovative idea, which will allow a lot of supporters to see their team when they could not before. However he says if it’s just about money then it’s not worth doing. I’m a bit shocked by Arsene’s comments but apparently he’s said in the papers today that he’s more against it than he is for it.

Gilberto feels left out. He’s saying he had a great season last season and fully expected to play this year but that hasn’t been the case. I feel really sorry for him, because yes he did play really well as captain last season in Henry’s absence, and I was shocked when he didn’t take the armband for this term. However Wenger had other plans and I’m afraid that Arsene was right, the Brazilian has lost a lot in his game this season and he will be moving on in the summer. A real shame but everyone’s time has to come to an end one day.

That’s your lot for the day, speak to you tomorrow at some point. See ya.