Take your mind off Barca: Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 29 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 29
By Dale Higginbottom
Back to a full league programme this weekend and we start what is a massive 8 days for Arsenal. With two important knock-out cup games coming up we needed to have the league campaign still in good condition before heading out to the Camp Nou, if only just to ease some pressure on our players as they face Barcelona. When it gets to games like this, at this stage of the season, having your best players fit and healthy is a huge bonus and is something we have missed in the past. So how do the figures stand this week?
Arsenal Vs Sunderland
Arsenal (7 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Fabianski (7)
- Defence – Vermaelen (25)
- Midfield – Frimpong (27), Fabregas (7), Song (2)
- Attack – van Persie (9), Walcott (5)
Additional issues: Koscielny and Rosicky were both doubtful before the game. The former started and the latter made a late second-half appearance.
Wolves Vs Tottenham
Tottenham (6 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported.
- Defence – King (22), Kaboul (10), Woodgate (2), Corluka (3)
- Midfield – Huddlestone (17), Van der Vaart (6)
Additional issues: Bale returned to the squad but was only fit enough to play as a second half substitute. Defoe was a doubt after his injury in training last week but played the whole game.
Liverpool Vs Man Utd
Liverpool (3 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, midfield – No injuries reported
- Defence – Agger (14), Kelly (1)
- Attack – Shelvey (3)
Additional issues: Meireles and Carroll were doubts before the game but the former started and was replaced by the latter on 74 minutes. Aurelio had to be replaced replaced after 24 minutes, he was also a doubt before the game.
Man Utd (7 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – No injuries reported.
- Defence – Ferdinand (11), Evans (7)
- Midfield – Valencia (25), Hargreaves (28), Park (6), Anderson (11)
- Attack – Owen (11)
Additional issues: Evra was a doubt before the game. Nani picked up an injury just before half-time and was forced off.
Man City Vs Wigan
Man City (2 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Given (2)
- Defence, attack – No injuries reported.
- Midfield – A. Johnson (5)
Additional issues: Kompany and De Jong were both doubtful for the game however Kompany started and De Jong came on as a late substitute.
The following was written before the match was played…
Blackpool Vs Chelsea
Chelsea (2 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported
- Defence – Alex (17)
- Midfield – Benayoun (23)
Additional issues: Mikel and Luiz are reported as doubts for the game but are expected to be declared fit.
It’s interesting that the two teams with the longest crocked list are the two teams still fighting on three fronts. The four teams below us still have something to play for and so can still have an important role to play in deciding the title.
Ok, seven injuries and only a draw, that’s the long and short of it. We should really have taken three points but a goalkeeper, referee, linesman and crossbar had something to say about that. These things just happen sometimes and it’s no real indication of our attacking ability, just a tough day and one point.
That is one point more than United managed this weekend. The missing centrebacks were partly to blame, as was SAF’s bizarre decision to leave out Fletcher for Scholes, knowing that Brown and Smalling are the pairing at the back. I know a lot has been said about our defensive cover but when Dirk Kuyt can score three past you I’d be more worried to be a United fan.
Another team letting in three was our neighbours the Tiny Totts. More performances like that from their defence and St Totteringham’s day will be sooner than expected. Hopefully they’ll have nothing to play for by the time we play them in April.
City had five players return from injury this week. If that happened to us it would really boost our season, oh we can but hope. Anyway despite all these returnees they did struggle to get the win against Wigan but a 1-0 win is as good as any.
Despite only drawing against Sunderland the result at Anfield put us a point closer to United. Winning the game in hand against Spurs (they’ll love to stop us doing that) would put us level and this title could really be decided on goal difference. It’s currently in United’s favour (+33 vs. +30) but what is surprising is that our defence is actually better than United’s (27 conceded vs. 30). It therefore looks like goals scored could be a big thing to look at in the last 9/10 games of the season.
This is pretty tough to consider coming away from a 0-0 draw where we struggled to get the ball over the line (ok, except for once) but this is an area which could be vital come May 22nd. Let’s have a look at the goals scored so far.
Total Goals Scored (as of Sunday 06/03/2011)
- Man United 63
- Arsenal 57
- Chelsea 48
- Man City 45
- Tottenham 41
- Liverpool 39
Injuries to attack
Man United
Owen (11), Rooney (8), Berbatov (1)
Others – Valencia (25), Giggs (7), Nani (3)
Arsenal
van Persie (9), Bendtner (8), Walcott (5)
Others – Fabregas (7), Nasri (5), Rosicky (1)
Chelsea
Anelka (2), Drogba (1), Sturridge (1), Borini (1)
Others – Lampard (14), Benayoun (23), Kakuta (3)
Man City
Balotelli (14),Tchuimeni-Nimely (14). Adebayor (4), Tevez (1), Jo (1)
Others – Adam Johnson (5), Silva (2), Yaya Toure (2), Wright-Phillips (2)
Tottenham
Defoe (11), Keane (6), Pavyluchenko (1)
Others – Van der Vaart (6), Bale (4), Lennon (3)
Liverpool
Kuyt (5), Carroll (4), Babel (3), Shelvey (3), Ngog (2)
Others – Cole (8), Gerrard (5), Jovanovic (4)
Rather than simply looking at the numbers I’ve listed all the players considered as strikers or forwards and the number of matches they have missed through injury. In addition to those I’ve also listed the creative players that usually have a big impact on the goals scored figures for each of the teams.
I think you can safely say that we have had a fairly high number of injuries in these departments. The importance of these players is also quite high and when you compare like-for-like with our rivals we’re performing quite well on the goals scored tally. I’m not going to look through these numbers with a fine-tooth comb, I just wanted to include them so that you could draw your own conclusions in the comments section (yes, I’m being lazy today).
One thing I will point out is that United have had a fair few important injuries, particularly with the injury to Valencia. They top the goal scoring table which is a great effort and is a little worrying. This could still be our stumbling block as we might need to out-score United in the last quarter of the season and as long as United manage their injuries well, I can’t see them hitting much of a goal drought. With injuries already to wide players like Valencia and Park, a long injury to Nani after Carragher’s assault could mean that chances are reduced but we’ll have a bit more of an idea of that on Saturday at Old Trafford.
On a final note, the big news ahead of the Barca game is that Wilshere is fit to play. It looks like Cesc should also return and this will be extremely important as we will need to hold out Barcelona’s impressive midfield duo. As I said at the start of the piece it’s a big week and so far it’s going ok, but will ok be enough on Tuesday night?