Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
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Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 11
By Dale Higginbottom
Onto Gameweek 11 and we’re now (as Walter has confirmed) doing better game-by-game than last season. Looking at results slightly differently, at this point last season we had one point more than we do now but given the start to our season and the number of top teams we’ve played, I think that’s pretty good going. Also, compared to last season we have accumulated 10 fewer injuries and maybe that is having a positive impact on recent results. Let’s see how many we added to the total this week.
| A = Ankle | K = Knee |
| B = Back | L = Achilles |
| C = Calf | M = Muscle |
| D = Dead Leg | N = Hip |
| E = Hamstring | R = Rib |
| F = Fatigue/Lack of Fitness | S = Shoulder |
| G = Groin | T = Thigh |
| H = Head Injury/Concussion | U = Unknown |
| I = Illness | Y = Hand |
| J = Foot | Z = Broken Leg |
Arsenal Vs West Brom (3-0)
| Injuries | Arsenal (5 + 0S) | West Brom (3 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Sagna (A,5), Gibbs (M,5) | Scharner (K) |
| Midfield | Wilshere (A,11), Diaby (A,11) | N/A |
| Attack | Chamakh (K,2) | Long (K), Odemwingie (K) |
| Additional issues | N/A | N/A |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Blackburn Vs Chelsea (0-1)
| Injuries | Blackburn (4 + 0S) | Chelsea (2 + 1S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | Hilario (N,5) |
| Defence | Nelson (K), Salgado (E), Dann (C) | N/A |
| Midfield | Grella (N) | Essien (K,11) |
| Attack | N/A | N/A |
| Additional issues | Hoilett was a slight doubt but he played the whole game. Dunn returned to the squad after injury, starting on the bench an coming on after 72 minutes. Samb also picked up an injury and couldn’t play the second half. | Mikel was a doubt with a back injury but he was fit to play the whole game. Malouda could not play the second half after picking up an injury. |
| Suspended | N/A | Drogba |
Fulham Vs Tottenham (1-3)
| Injuries | Fulham (5 + 0S) | Tottenham (3 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Senderos (T), Hughes (T) | Dawson (L,7) |
| Midfield | Davies (K) | Huddlestone (A,7), Kranjcar (A,6) |
| Attack | Sa (E), Johnson (U) | N/A |
| Additional issues | Murphy was a doubt for the game but he started the game. Grygera was forced off just before half-time with an ankle injury. | Corluka was a doubt but he returned to the squad, starting on the bench. |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
QPR Vs Man City (2-3)
| Injuries | QPR (6 + 0S) | Man City (1 + 1S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Connolly (U), Hall (E) | N/A |
| Midfield | Dyer (J), Buzsaky (K) | Hargreaves (C,4) |
| Attack | Campbell (J), Hulse (K) | N/A |
| Additional issues | N/A | Silva was a doubt with a back injury but was fit enough to start and play the whole game. |
| Suspended | N/A | Kompany |
Liverpool Vs Swansea (0-0)
| Injuries | Liverpool (3 + 0S) | Swansea (4 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Robinson (A,3), Carragher (C,2) | Tate (Z), Caulker (K) |
| Midfield | Gerrard (A,7) | Bodde (K) |
| Attack | N/A | Dobbie (A) |
| Additional issues | N/A | Agustien was a doubt but made the bench, coming on as a late sub |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Man Utd Vs Sunderland (1-0)
| Injuries | Man Utd (8 + 0S) | Sunderland (6 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | Gordan (K), Mignolet (H) |
| Defence | Rafael (S,11), Smalling (J,4) | Angeleri (K), O’Shea (E) |
| Midfield | Gibson (A,9), Young (J,2), Cleverley (A,5), Anderson (U,1), Giggs (E,1) | Vaughan (G) |
| Attack | Owen (T,5) | Campbell (K) |
| Additional issues | N/A | Whickham picked up an injury after just 4 minutes and had to be replaced. |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
So, when we thought last week that the injuries might be starting to even out a bit between the top clubs, Man Utd decided to defy us and declare eight injuries this week (I think, feeling a bit down about not being top-dogs in the league, they thought that being top of the injury league was prize enough). Other than United and Arsenal (with 5) everyone else is hovering around the 1 to 3 injury mark which is more than manageable for a top-six team.
Another solid three points for Arsenal and more importantly, no new injuries to contend with, which is a massive boost. The team performances have certainly improved as players returned from injury and Vermaelen back in the line-up is great to see. Jenkinson has also started to impress at right-back and game-by-game he’s picking up experience and with Sagna still unavailable for a few weeks, he’ll have even more time to settle in to that role.
Elsewhere..
Fulham vs Tottenham is usually quite an interesting game, with Fulham often coming out on top but it was not to be this week. The Tiny Totts’ injuries have seriously reduced so they should, if anything, be looking a little stronger than recent weeks, shame.
The most injury-hit fixture of the week was by a long way the game at Old Trafford. United’s injury list is looking pretty tough at the moment and they’ll certainly be welcoming the international break as a time to get some players back.
Chelsea, still reeling from the defeat to us, managed a 1-0 victory but Liverpool again showed inconsistency and were totally outplayed at home against promoted Swansea. Now, Swansea did give Arsenal a run for their money back in September so I can kinda see why Liverpool may have struggled but our injury concerns were much higher than the 3 recorded (double in fact) so maybe this is a sign of how strong Liverpool might actually be this season.
Finally, City kept up their unbeaten run despite their debilitating injury list of 1. I think QPR gave them a good game, so there is hope that they might drop more points somewhere soon. Maybe the Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal will be the start of a downward spiral for them.
Yes, it is that time again, the international injury break is upon us and we maybe should be little more worried about this one than we have in recent ones. The past couple of international breaks have happened when our injury list has been quite high and so not quite so many players have gone off to play tedious qualifiers or pointless friendlies. This time however it’s been looking quite a bit better for us on the injury front and so with more fit players available for internationals comes the increased risk of injury to at least one of our players. Fingers, toes, everything crossed for an injury free break for our gunners.
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