Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 7 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager

Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 7

By Dale Higginbottom

Ok, so a defeat to the Tiny Totts is never an easy thing to deal with. Over Arsene Wenger years we’ve not had to suffer this pain too often but recent seasons have seen the North London divide shrink a little bit. Spurs are now somewhat more of a challenge, not just to us, but to all teams in the league but…

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	Z = Broken Leg
J = Foot

Tottenham Vs Arsenal (2-1)

Injuries	Tottenham (6 + 0S)	Arsenal (6 + 0S)
Goalkeeper	N/A	N/A
Defence	Gallas (C,6), Dawson (L,3)	Vermaelen (A,4), Squillaci (C,5), Djourou (E,2), Koscielny (A,1)
Midfield	Pienaar (G,6), Lennon (G,4), Huddlestone (A,3), Kranjcar (A,2)	Wilshere (A,7), Diaby (A,7)
Attack	N/A	N/A
Additional issues	Pavlyuchenko returned to the squad after injury.	Benayoun returned to the squad. Sagna broke his leg and was forced off the field in the second half.
Suspended	N/A	N/A

Bolton Vs Chelsea (1-5)

Injuries	Bolton (7 + 2S)	Chelsea (2 + 1S)
Goalkeeper	Jääskeläinen (U)	Hilario (N, )
Defence	Ricketts (L), Mears (Z), Alonso (J),	N/A
Midfield	Davis (K), Lee (Z), Holden (K)	Essien (K,7)
Attack	N/A	N/A
Additional issues	N/A	N/A
Suspended	Klasnic, Wheater	Torres

Man Utd Vs Norwich (2-0)

Injuries	Man Utd (5 + 0S)	Norwich (4 + 0S)
Goalkeeper	N/A	N/A
Defence	Rafael (S,7), Vidic (C,6), Smalling (G,2)	Ayala (K), Ward (K), Whitbread (E)
Midfield	Gibson (A,5), Cleverley (F,3)	N/A
Attack	N/A	Vaughan (K)
Additional issues	N/A	N/A
Suspended	N/A	N/A

Everton Vs Liverpool (0-2)

Injuries	Everton (1 + 0S)	Liverpool (2 + 0S)
Goalkeeper	N/A	N/A
Defence	N/A	Johnson (E,6), Agger (R,2)
Midfield	N/A	N/A
Attack	Anichebe (G)	N/A
Additional issues	N/A	N/A
Suspended	N/A	N/A

Blackburn Vs Man City Vs (0-4)

	Blackburn (3 + 0S)	Man City (0 + 0S)
Goalkeeper	N/A	N/A
Defence	Nelson (K), Salgado (E)	N/A
Midfield	Dunn (C)	N/A
Attack	N/A	N/A
Additional issues	N/A	Aguero was forced off with an injury after 27 minutes.
Suspended	N/A	N/A

So, once again we’re back on top of the injury table. In fact this week we shared the top spot with our opponents. United got a few of their key players back this week so drop to third and as-per-usual Liverpool, Chelsea and Man City have got it easy, recording   very few injuries again. In fact City had a full-strength squad available for the game at Blackburn.

As I said, we’re on top with Tottenham who also recorded six crocked players this week. I think we were looking pretty good for most of the game and it was only when we unfortunately lost Sagna to injury that we started to look a little disorganised. True, it’s not been the best start to our season but we have a least looked good in parts in every game we’ve played and I think we’re just a few steps away from really getting this team gelled and playing to full capacity for most of the game. Once we get Vermaelen/Koscielny and Diaby back I think things will start to look even better.

City won comfortably again, which they should do with a full selection available. Their only injury worry now is that of Aguero (who was forced off in the game) but even that does not sound like it’s too serious.

United got Rooney and Hernandez and lo and behold, they won again. Their injuries are still pretty high, particularly in defence and it seems that their great attacking form is masking a lot of the defensive frailties they have been having. Three goals conceded at home against Basel is not the sign of a title-winning defence.

Wins also for Chelsea and Liverpool but nothing too much of note really. Both have recorded very few injuries, Chelsea were playing a Bolton side shot of confidence and Liverpool were gifted the game after a bizarre red card.

In reality we’ve not actually performed too badly this season when compared to the same period last year. Let’s have a look at the first seven games.

Game week	Opponents	Number of Injuries	Result
1	Liverpool (A)	5	D
2	Blackpool (H)	5	W
3	Blackburn (A)	4	W
4	Bolton (H)	6	W
5	Sunderland (A)	7	D
6	West Brom (H)	8	L
7	Chelsea (A)	9	L
Total		44	11 Points

Game week	Opponents	Number of Injuries	Result
1	Newcastle (A)	3	D
2	Liverpool (H)	7	L
3	Man Utd (A)	8	L
4	Swansea (H)	6	W
5	Blackburn (A)	5	L
6	Bolton (H)	6	W
7	Tottenham (A)	6	L
Total		41	7 Points

Ok, so we’re four points down on last season and we’re actually doing slightly better on the injury front but the point here is that the levels still remain pretty high. More importantly is the fact that whilst we’ve had a similar injury level to last year, we’ve had more slightly more difficult games to contend with.

At home it’s pretty much the same as last year, we beat Bolton, a promoted team and lost to Liverpool as opposed to West Brom. So you could say that home form is ok. Away from home the defeat to United is like the defeat to Chelsea and the draw with Newcastle is fairly comparable with the draw with Sunderland last season.

The difference this season is the defeat to Blackburn (rather than a win) and the defeat to Spurs (rather than the draw with Liverpool). It’s four points to make up from last season, not a lot really. We’re still in all competitions and are one of the better performers in the Champions League. All is not lost yet my fellow Gooners.

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