Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 21 & Half-Season Review « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
————————————————————–
Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 21 & Half-Season Review
By Dale Higginbottom
Gameweek 21 and we’re back into our weekly round-ups of injuries of the big six teams. This week saw the first league game to be impacted by the African Cup of Nations. City, Chelsea and Arsenal are the only affected teams of the top-six and looking at injuries it will more likely impact Arsenal above the other two. By how much, we may not know but it’s something to look at when we see how many players are unavailable. Let’s look at the injuries for gameweek 21.
| 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 |
Swansea Vs Arsenal (3-2)
| Injuries | Swansea (2 + 0S) | Arsenal (10 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | Fabianski (K,7) |
| Defence | Tate (Z) | Sagna (A,15), Gibbs (M,15), Jenkinson (B,11), Santos (A,7), Vermaelen (C,9) |
| Midfield | Bodde (K) | Wilshere (A,21), Coquelin (E.1), Diaby (M,19), Arteta (C,1) |
| Attack | N/A | N/A |
| Additional issues | N/A | Miyaichi returned to the reserves and looks now to be fit to play. Mertesacker and Rosicky were doubts due to illness. Mertesacker started and played the first 77 minutes of the game, Rosicky came on as a 63rd minute sub. |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Chelsea Vs Sunderland (1-0)
| Injuries | Chelsea (2 + 0S) | Sunderland (6 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | Gordon (K) |
| Defence | Ivanovich (E,4) | Bramble (C), Angeleri (K), Brown (G) |
| Midfield | Mikel (E,4) | Colback (A) |
| Attack | N/A | Campbell (K) |
| Additional issues | Essien returned to the squad after a long spell out and came on after 73 minutes. Malouda and Sturridge also returned to the squad on the bench. Malouda came on wth five minutes to play. | Bardsley and Wickham returnd to the squad. Bardsley played the whole game, Wickham came on as a 80th minute sub. Kilgallon was replaced after 45 minutes with an ankle injury. |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Man Utd Vs Bolton (3-0)
| Injuries | Man Utd (8 + 0S) | Bolton (7 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | Jääskeläinen (T) |
| Defence | Vidic (K,14), Smalling (I,9), Jones (U,2) | Alonso (F), Mears (Z) |
| Midfield | Cleverley (A,15), Fletcher (I,9), Young (A,6), Anderson (U,9) | Davis (K), Gardner (K), Holden (K), Lee (Z) |
| Attack | Owen (T,15) | N/A |
| Additional issues | Fabio returned and was on the bench as an unused sub. Evans returned to the squad after illness and played the whole game. Ferdinand played the whole game despite being a doubt through illness. Welbeck picked up a knock and was replaced late on. | N/A |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Liverpool Vs Stoke (0-0)
| Injuries | Liverpool (4 + 1S) | Stoke (2 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Robinson (A,13), Agger (U,3) | Shotton (A) |
| Midfield | Lucas (K,8), Spearing (E,1) | N/A |
| Attack | N/A | Sidibe (K) |
| Additional issues | N/A | Woodgate was a doubt for the game but started and played the first 78 minutes. Wilkinson returned to the squad and came on to replace Woodgate. Wilson was also doubtful but played 90 mins. |
| Suspended | Suarez | N/A |
Tottenham Vs Everton (2-0)
| Injuries | Tottenham (5 + 0S) | Everton (6 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | King (E,8), Gallas (C,9) | Hibbert (G), Coleman (T), Jagielka (K) |
| Midfield | Huddlestone (A,17), Parker (K,2), Sandro (C,6) | Barkley (K), Rodwell (E), Osman (K) |
| Attack | N/A | N/A |
| Additional issues | N/A | Cahill was a doubt but started and played the whole game. Distin was forced off after 59 minutes with a hamstring injury. |
| Suspended | N/A |
Tottenham Vs Wolves (1-1)
| Injuries | Tottenham (4 + 0S) | Wolves (3 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | King (E,9), Gallas (C,10) | Craddock (E), Zubar (K) |
| Midfield | Huddlestone (A,18), Sandro (C,7) | O’Hara (M) |
| Attack | N/A | N/A |
| Additional issues | Parker returned to the squad and played the whole game. | Fletcher, Edwards and Johnson were all slight doubts but all started and played most of the game. |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Wigan Vs Man City (0-1)
| Injuries | Wigan (2 + 0S) | Man City (2 + 1S) |
| Goalkeeper | Kirkland (B) | N/A |
| Defence | N/A | Richards (E,3) |
| Midfield | Maloney (C) | N/A |
| Attack | N/A | Balotelli (A,3) |
| Additional issues | Crusat returned to the squad and played the first 68 mins. | Silva was a slight doubt with an ankle strain but started and played 81 minutes. |
| Suspended | N/A | Kompany |
Arsenal head back into double figures for the number of players unavailable due to injury. As has been the case in recent weeks, United are close behind us and Spurs lead the rest of the chasing pack. It’s difficult to see these sorts of figures, particularly after a defeat but it clearly shows the additional hoops Arsenal have to jump through just to compete with our rivals.
On the whole injuries have been dealt with quite well and replacement players have swiftly slotted into the team and taken most things in their stride. However, now it appears that the lack of full-backs has finally caught up with us.
Against Swansea my initial disappointment was the performance and not the result. The lack of possession was simply bizarre for an Arsenal team that is usually so comfortable with the ball. It was easy to see that we missed a little in midfield but the pressure that we were continuously put under on the flanks was the most difficult thing for the team to deal with. The reduced attacking threat from Miquel and Djourou would certainly not have been an issue with Sagna, Jenkinson, Gibbs or Santos in those positions.
It’s not just the full-back positions where Arsenal have struggled to keep some sense of consistency in selection. Wilshere, Diaby and Arteta are three players with a perfectly viable shout for a first-team place who were all unavailable against Swansea. In fact let’s look that the list of ten injured players and add to that the two players in the African Cup of Nations, can we create a team?
Fabianski
Jenkinson Sagna Vermaelen Gibbs
Diaby
Arteta Wilshere
Gervinho Chamakh Santos
Sub: Coquelin
Now that’s a team that, at the very least is a bit more balanced than the one sent out on Sunday. This is really frustrating that so many players are out but there’s plenty still be positive about. We’re still in the FA Cup, Champions League and still with a good shout of achieving Champions League football next season.
In these injury reviews I usually chat a little bit about performances and injury situations of the other five teams but, there’s not a lot to say other than make note of Frimpong’s great performance for Wolves against the Totts to keep them to one point. Instead of that I thought I’d do a little bit of a half-season review of injuries. So first up the sum total of all games missed through injury by all players.
| Team | 2011 Injuries | 2010 Injuries |
| Arsenal | 127 | 113 |
| Man Utd | 124 | 90 |
| Tottenham | 103 | 111 |
| Chelsea | 48 | 71 |
| Liverpool | 45 | 52 |
| Man City | 25 | 80 |
As last year, the half-way point of the season sees Arsenal top of the injury table. The odd thing is that whilst the injury situation is worse this season, compared to last, there is a feeling that we’re doing a better job of dealing with it. Whether we are or not, we can’t truly say but I think even if we’d had an injury situation similar to last season, we would have one or two more points on the board. To have more than 100 more than City is clearly a huge difference to make up. We can be pretty certain that had the situations been reversed, City would not have the points they have now.
Now let’s have a look at the number of players that have been impacted by an injury this season. The below table shows the total number of player that have missed at least one game through injury this season.
| Team | 2011 Injuries | 2010 Injuries |
| Arsenal | 21 | 16 |
| Man Utd | 21 | 17 |
| Tottenham | 21 | 19 |
| Chelsea | 11 | 16 |
| Man City | 10 | 15 |
| Liverpool | 9 | 12 |
So, a three-way race on this one. As we’ve said most of the season, there is certainly a divide between the haves and have-nots. One thing to notice is the increase compared to last season of the top 3, yet the bottom three have been a bit more fortunate with injuries. So, have City, Liverpool and Chelsea improved their medical teams? Have their squads improved so they can rotate more? It could be any number of reasons but either way, there is a figure there to see who is doing a good job of things.
Actually, talking about relative performance, one thing to note from all of this is that at the halfway point of the season we were only three points behind our tally for the same point last season. Considering our poor start to this season, it’s not a bad place to be and, even with the defeats in the last two games, if the performances can get back on track and we cope well with injuries, there’s no reason why we can’t surpass last season’s tally.
So, next up it’s time to get revenge for the 8-2 defeat at old Trafford. It’s funny that we’re at a similar injury crisis situation now as we were when we faced United last and also, like that game, it’s the last league fixture before the end of the transfer window. Thankfully United will be without players which at the very least makes things a bit more even.
——————————————
Editorial note: I am taking a break for a little while, and for the next 3 weeks Walter will be in charge of Untold. If you want to submit an article please do so to walterbroeckx@hotmail.com Tony
——————————————-
Who really controls the refs in the EPL? The authorities or a couple of clubs?
Money Laundering and Football – an investigation
When a club is bought, spends big and collapses. How money laundering in football works