Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 26 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade
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Victory Through Harmony
By Dale Higginbottom
Gameweek 26 and we’re well into the season now. I’m surprised how quickly it seems to be going. But even so I’m really enjoying the ups and downs and can’t wait to see how it all pans out. In terms of injuries, we’re coping pretty well and if this continues the campaign could pan out quite well for us.
Anyway, the injuries for gameweek 26:
Newcastle Vs Arsenal
Arsenal (6 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Fabianski (4)
- Defence – Vermaelen (22)
- Midfield – Frimpong (24), Nasri (4), Denilson (5), Song (1)
- Attack – No injuries reported
Additional issues: Djourou picked up an injury and was forced off after 48 minutes.
Chelsea Vs Liverpool
Chelsea (3 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported
- Defence – Alex (14)
- Midfield – Benayoun (20), Zhirkov (12)
Additional issues: Mikel was a doubt before the game but started and played 71 minutes.
Liverpool (3 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, defence – No injuries reported
- Midfield – Spearing (10), Cole (7)
- Attack – Carroll (2)
Additional issues: Jovanovic and Poulsen were both doubts before the game but both made the squad.
Wolves Vs Man Utd
Man Utd (3 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported.
- Defence – Ferdinand (7)
- Midfield – Valencia (21), Hargreaves (24)
Additional issues: Evans picked up a knock and could only complete 65 minutes. Rafael returned to the squad and played the whole game.
Tottenham Vs Bolton
Tottenham (5 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported.
- Defence – King (19), Kaboul (7)
- Midfield –Huddlestone (14) Bale (2), Modric (5)
Additional issues: Van der Vaart picked up an injury and was forced off at half-time. Pienaar rplaced Van der Vaart and he has been suffering with concussion so was probably unable to complete a full 90 minutes.
Man City Vs West Brom
Man City (5 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
- Defence – Richards (6)
- Midfield – M. Johnson (26), A. Johnson (2), De Jong (1)
- Attack – Balotelli (13)
Additional issues: No additional injuries reported
Arsenal lead the way again with injuries, as we’ve been most of this season. The numbers aren’t too much against us but being without our number one keeper, defender and (based on this season’s performances) midfielder is not easy to deal with. We also missed Song a little this weekend, particularly after Djourou’s injury and Diaby’s red card, so a speedy recovery by him will be a massive boost.
Dropping points is always disappointing when on a title challenge but maintaining unbeaten runs helps to instil belief. We’ve not lost since the 1-0 at Old Trafford and if we can continue this run until we meet again at the Ems, we’ll be in with a very good shout.
Elsewhere….
It looks like Manchester Tevez had a good result. Their title challenge however hangs solely on the performances of one player and whilst they will be close, I think that they’ll just fall short. Their aim is Champions League qualification and that showed when they came to the Emirates and played for the draw. They have been near the top of late because of the game or two in hand, I can’t see them staying right up there by May. At last, United were beaten in the league and the Invincibles remain untouched. A heavy reliance on the old guard of Giggs and Scholes could be their downfall. Away from home their performances have been poor all season and it is a surprise that their unbeaten record has lasted this long. They have won three away games so far (Stoke, West Brom and Blackpool) which is not really the form of champions and with very few injuries to report, they don’t even have that excuse to fall back on.
Great result for Liverpool considering their equal footing with Chelsea on injuries. The result shows that you can’t paper over gaping cracks with a couple sheets of shiny paper. Torres and Luiz may eventually work out for them but it’s going to take some time and when Mr Abramovich wants/needs to win the Champions League this season, maybe time isn’t in abundant supply.
Tottenham are again suffering on the injury front, mainly with big names like Modric, Bale and Van der Vaart missing games or parts of games. Their squad should be able to cope with these for a few weeks and maybe they’ll enjoy the weekend break whilst we’re at Wembley, but maybe not, hahaha.
Ok, let’s look at results in perspective. Ignore the manor of the result and ultimately it’s one point. That’s one point more than Utd scored this week, one point more than Chelsea. You could then say that we’ve had quite a good week and we now lie second in the league, four points behind United and four points ahead of City. If we beat Wolves at the weekend we’ll either be closer to United or further ahead of City, or both.
Maybe this collapse will actually serve us well. Obviously the players will have to re-focus to stop a similar thing happening in the future but it might also give our opponents a level of over-confidence that could present opportunities for us to kill games off easier.
Hopefully we can manage the few absentees and additions to the injury list over the next few games. Midweek sees another full programme of pointless FIFA friendly matches so I would probably expect a couple more added to our list by next weekend.
Talking of international breaks, it’s probably now time for another round-up of injuries suffered on international duty.
International Injury Watch
Arsenal (Total 34)
- Goalkeeper – None
- Defence – Vermaelen (22)
- Midfield – Fabregas (1)
- Attack – Bendtner (7), Walcott (4)
Tottenham (Total 23)
- Goalkeeper – None
- Defence – Dawson (12)
- Midfield – Kranjcar (1)
- Attack – Defoe (10)
Liverpool (Total 19)
- Goalkeeper – None
- Defence – Agger (10)
- Midfield – Gerrard (4)
- Attack – Kuyt (5)
Chelsea (Total 12)
- Goalkeeper, defence, attack – None
- Midfield – Zhirkov (12)
Man Utd (Total 12)
- Goalkeeper, attack – None
- Defence – Ferdinand (5), Smalling (1)
- Midfield – Park Ji-Sung (2), Anderson (4)
Man City (Total 
- Goalkeeper, midfield, attack – None
- Defence – Boateng (6), Richards (1), Lescott (1)
The injury to Vermaelen, suffered when he was last with the Belgium National Team is still one that is having an influence on our season. Because of this we’re well clear of the rest at the top of the international injury table. It’s interesting that the games missed solely by Vermaelen are almost equal to the total number of injuries of Tottenham, second in the ranking.
After the last international break Chelsea lost Zhirkov for what is now 12 games and Liverpool were without Gerrard for four games, which would have been more had the weather not intervened. You can understand why Gerrard picked up a mysterious knock against Chelsea that has forced him out of the England friendly.
It’s about time these friendlies were expelled from mid-season and National teams were granted a 4 day training session with a selection of players. The uncertainty of not knowing who might be available for the weekend game does not help for preparation, especially when your upcoming opponent doesn’t have the same problem. I’ll be keeping everything crossed in the hope that Robin comes back fit and healthy.
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