Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 33 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News, supporting the club, the players and the manager
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Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 33
By Dale Higginbottom
It’s a bit of a jumbled round-up this week. With just three of our usual teams playing last weekend it makes more sense to include the midweek games and do something of a bumper round-up. So, from the last report we came into these fixtures after a run of injury-hit games so the hope was that injuries might reduce and results pick up as there is just the league to play for. Well we know that results haven’t yet improved but what of the injuries?
Arsenal Vs Liverpool
Arsenal (6 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Fabianski (11), Almunia (19)
- Defence – Vermaelen (29), Sagna (3)
- Midfield – Denilson (8), Rosicky (2)
- Attack – No injuries reported
Additional issues: Szczesny and Djourou returned to the starting eleven and played the whole game. Song also returned to the squad and came on as a second-half substitute.
Liverpool (4 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported
- Defence – Kelly (5), Agger (16), Johnson (6)
- Midfield – Gerrard (8)
Additional issues: Kyrgiakos returned from injury and was a second half substitute. Aurelio, Carragher and Carroll all picked up injuries and had to be replaced after 21, 62 and 70 minutes respectively.
Tottenham Vs Arsenal
Tottenham (5 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported.
- Defence – King (26), Woodgate (6), Hutton (2)
- Midfield – Palacios (5), Kranjcar (4)
Additional issues: Pienaar was a doubt but made the bench and was an unused substitute. Bale picked up an injury in the first half and was replaced at the start of the second.
Arsenal (2 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Fabianski (12)
- Defence – Vermaelen (30)
- Midfield, attack – No injuries reported
Additional issues: Diaby was replaced after 52 minutes after picking up an injury. Almunia, Rosicky and Denilson were all declared fit but did not feature in the squad.
Newcastle Vs Man Utd
Man Utd (6 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Lindegaard (4)
- Defence – Rafael (6), Ferdinand (14)
- Midfield – Hargreaves (32), Fletcher (4)
- Attack – Berbatov (2)
Additional issues: No additional issues reported.
West Brom Vs Chelsea
Chelsea (2 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported
- Defence –Alex (20)
- Midfield – Ramires (3)
Additional issues: Ivanovich picked up a slight injury and was replaced after 63 minutes.
Chelsea Vs Birmingham
Chelsea (2 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported
- Defence – Alex (21)
- Midfield – Ramires (4)
Additional issues: Ivanovich was a doubt for this game but made the squad, he was an unused substitute. Cole picked up an injury that forced him off after 56 minutes.
Wow! Down to just two players injured, that’s our best position all season. Our previous best week in terms of injuries was the game against Wigan in December. There we recorded just three injuries in Vermaelen, Almunia and Frimpong and oddly enough that was also a game in which Diaby was forced off mid-game.
Elsewhere the injury levels of other teams seems to show only a little change from previous weeks. United top the list and with Champions League games to consider, they could still drop points or lose more players to injuries. Newcastle’s sterling efforts against United helped to lift some hopes of our title challenge but this now looks difficult after Wednesday’s result.
The draw against Liverpool was difficult to take. The manner of the result and the frustration around the added-time penalty was tough particularly as it had a big psychological impact on our title challenge. The Spurs game was equally as difficult but looking past the result, a great North London derby. The Tiny Totts continue to have defensive injury issues and the draw was not ideal for them in the now two-horse race for fourth position.
Chelsea have, with two 3-1 victories, surprisingly put themselves back in the title race. A couple of weeks ago I thought that they would fall short but now they do have a chance. They are in a similar position to us in that they are reliant on beating United to have any realistic hope but given that the injury levels are quite kind to them at present and they also only have league fixtures to focus on, you couldn’t completely rule them out.
Arsene has come out and said that they are still fighting for the title, as they should do, but I wonder if our fifth draw in six games is too much to come back from. The hope is still there and a lot of the signs are positive in that it is still mathematically possible, there are few injuries and United have still to come to the Emirates and play Chelsea but given the current form, even the most optimistic fan would probably think this one’s just a little out of our reach.
It would take a mammoth effort from the players and probably would need them to win five out of five by comfortable margins to improve the goal difference but stranger things have happened in football and you wouldn’t bet against another upset or two in the coming weeks. We’re still unbeaten in the league since December (16 games) and it would be a fantastic if this could continue for the rest of this season, beating United in the process.
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