Friday, March 4th, 2011 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

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Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 28

By Dale Higginbottom

Bit of a disjointed review this week as a result of the Carling Cup Final. I don’t want to go too much into that game (this being a round-up of league games) but I do want to say that I really think the players will pick themselves up and realise that a push for the next two and a bit months will see a first trophy for the Emirates.

Anyway, down to business. We have today the round-up of gameweek 28 however there are a few matches added and a few missing. In gameweek 28 we would’ve seen Tottenham Vs Arsenal and Chelsea Vs Birmingham so these have been re-scheduled. In addition, I’ve included a couple of re-scheduled game from December that were played in the last week; Arsenal Vs Stoke, Blackpool Vs Tottenham and Chelsea Vs Man Utd. Here’s how the teams faired this week.

Arsenal Vs Stoke

Arsenal (5 injuries)

Goalkeeper – Fabianski (6)

Defence – Vermaelen (24), Koscielny (2)

Midfield – Frimpong (26)

Attack – van Persie (8)

Additional issues: Djourou was a doubt before the game but was fit enough to play. Fabregas and Walcott both picked up injuries mid-game that forced them off the field.

Blackpool Vs Tottenham

Tottenham (7 injuries)

Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported.

Defence – King (21), Kaboul (9), Woodgate (1), Corluka (2)

Midfield –Huddlestone (16) Bale (4), Van der Vaart (5)

Additional issues: No additional issues reported.

Wigan Vs Man Utd

Man Utd (8 injuries)

Goalkeeper – No injuries reported.

Defence – Ferdinand (9), Evans (5)

Midfield – Valencia (23), Hargreaves (26), Park (4), Anderson (9), Giggs (7)

Attack – Owen (9)

Additional issues: No additional issues reported.

Man City Vs Fulham

Man City (7 injuries)

Goalkeeper – Given (1)

Defence – Kompany (1), Richards (7)

Midfield – M. Johnson (28), A. Johnson (4), De Jong (3), Silva (2)

Attack – No injuries reported.

Additional issues: Milner was a doubt and only started on the bench, coming on for the final 13 minutes.

West Ham Vs Liverpool

Liverpool (4 injuries)

Goalkeeper, midfield – No injuries reported

Defence – Agger (13), Aurelio (8)

Attack – Carroll (4), Shelvey (2)

Additional issues: Gerrard, Johnson and Kelly were all doubts before the game but all three started the game. Cole has just returned from injury and started on the bench. He replaced Kelly after 43 minutes when Kelly picked up a hamstring injury. Meireles also picked up an injury mid-game which forced him off the field.

Chelsea Vs Man Utd

Chelsea (3 injuries)

Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported

Defence – Alex (16)

Midfield – Benayoun (22), Mikel (4)

Additional issues: No additional issues reported.

Man Utd (6 injuries)

Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported.

Defence – Ferdinand (10), Evans (6)

Midfield – Valencia (24), Hargreaves (27), Park (5), Anderson (10)

Additional issues: Giggs returned to the squad, he was not fit enough to start but made a second half appearance. Owen was reported as fit but did not make the squad. Evra went off in the second half after picking up a knock.

First things first, that was a fantastic win against Stoke. It was a real gutsy performance towards the end of the game that deserved all three points. The injury losses in that game were hard for us to take, particularly with a cup final afterwards but hopefully Walcott and Fabregas will make quick recoveries to help us in the final 11 league games of the season.

Tottenham will struggle to maintain their Champions League status unless they can get some of their injured players back. All season they seem to have had issues with injuries in defence but that’s to be expected with King, Gallas and Woodgate on the books. Losing to Blackpool is pretty bad for a club whose manager at the start of the season said they could win the league.

Liverpool lost 3-1 against West Ham, West Ham!! That must be a bit of a low point for them. Going into the game they looked pretty good on the injury front with just four players missing. However, as we have seen all season, the lack of quality depth in their squad is key factor to their performances this season.

City’s injuries are quite high for once. So far this season they have managed to avoid major injury concerns but have this week been without 7 players and that, coupled with a little bit of fixture congestion, certainly didn’t help their slim title hopes.

United’s injuries have really rocketed in the last couple of weeks. 8 injuries against Wigan and 6 in the big league game of the week, away to Chelsea. Its no wonder it caught up with them a bit and they lost at Stamford Bridge, particularly when you consider Chelsea could field a pretty much full strength squad.

We can definitely see a change since the last injury round up. The long season appears to be taking its toll on everyone. New injuries reported for van Persie, Fabregas and Walcott are a concern for us but we’re not the only ones facing squad selection problems. The Tinies still have a high level of injuries, even without playing at the weekend, and add to that another injury to Defoe. City lost Given for what looks like the rest of the season and Europa League games are hitting them hard with additional injuries, Liverpool picked up another couple of injuries against West Ham and Utd may have an injury to Evra in top of their 6 and missing Bodice for a game certainly won’t help the cause.

The funny thing is that at the moment, the team that is not really affected is Chelsea. The very team that we’ve said all along cannot afford to lose players to injury because of their wafer-thin squad. Pity for them that they are already out of the running. Still, thanks for taking the points off Utd, please do it again at their place.