Arsene Wenger was extremely agitated about Arsenal having to play against Bournemouth just two days after the win against Crystal Palace and the biggest gripe he had was that his players didn’t have time to recover from the tiredness and knocks that were sustained in the first game.
These little injuries have obviously been aggravated and added to, with Koscielny and Coquelin the most affected. Arsene Wenger has given us a provisional diagnosis of Coquelin when he said: “He is out for three or four weeks now. He has a hamstring problem.
“I say three to four weeks because he came off, but he has a scan today.”
He revealed also that Danny Welbeck may make his long awaited return against Preston on Saturday, because (guess what!) we may have another forward out injured! “I haven’t decided yet but he could be. It depends on Perez a little bit.”
Ah so what is wrong with Perez? “We might have a problem with Lucas Perez because he injured his ankle. We will see how he responds to that.
“Coming back, the closest is Walcott but he is still not ready. Kieran Gibbs is not ready, so I don’t think anyone is coming back. Coquelin and Ozil are out.
“We play with 90% of the squad. We rest Koscielny because he came off with problems in his thigh.
“Ospina will play, but maybe Sanchez I will rest as well, but everyone else will play.”
So is Ozil just being rested or is it something worse? Wenger continued: “Mesut Ozil is coming in today and will be assessed by the doctor. He has been in bed for two weeks.
“I cannot imagine we will involve him on Saturday.
“It’s a flu he has had – a throat infection. I don’t know exactly.”
Well I guess the good news is that our FA Cup match is against lowly Preston, which we should be able to handle whichever reserves we use, and then we have a whole (much needed) seven days in which all our stars can recover (except Coquelin and Cazorla of course) before we resume our title chase at Swansea.
Let’s hope everyone has a good rest and recovers well….
Admin
Glad Danny is back. He will be important for us in FA Cup. I’ll never forget his match winning goal against united at Old Trafford
However, he will need to prove himself before he gets a start over Iwobi or Lucas on the left or up front
But glad he’s back
If it is on the wings then Iwobi has failed.
The 1st goal we conceded was Iwobis fault for not tracking back, Henry said Ramsey was at fault as he noticed the runner but did nothing, the ACM shouldn’t be covering for the RB. Where was Iwobi???? And that missing player should be ahead of Welbeck? Iwobi needs to improve to be a starter.
Perez is looking stronger and stronger in our team with every minute he plays and will agree he should be ahead of Welbeck.
This is why I think Reus would be the perfect Jan signing for our current situation.
LAM: Reus/Welbeck
RAM: Theo/Perez
CF: Alexis/Giroud
ACM: Ozil
@MidKemma
No offence dude. But advocating the need to buy an injury prone player like Reus, in a thread about “injured players” is a bit funny…
Wenger’s press conferences always leave a bitter taste.
With his depleted squad and mediocre players like Ramsey, Jenks, Debuchy and co he still feels there is no need for recruits. Carzola, Gibbs, Kos, Coq, Theo, Perez, are either injured or have knocks. Ozil and Welbz are not match fit, Elneny gone, Bellarin, Monreal, Xhaka, and Sanchez over played recently but our manager still feels we have a squad to compete approaching the “doom month” for Arsenal (February).
God help us, this man has got to go and let him carry half of his weak squad with him from academy upwards.
Welcome back Welbz and quick recovery to the injured players.
So it’s probably
Giroud
Welbeck Iwobi OX
Xhaka Rambo
Monreal Gabriel Mustafi Bellerin
Ospina
That sounds ahout right, though lucas sounds like he has more of a chance than Welbeck, who could well play for u23s on friday if lucas is fit.
I’m expecting a very youthful bench
Martinez, Bola, holding, Niles, sheaf, Adelaide, mavididi or akpom
Sad to see Bellarin, Monreal, Xhaka and Iwobi in the line up, they look fatigued as it is.
Would it gamble to Play a back 4 of
Jenkison Mustafi Holding Gabriel or we can even play with a back 3.
Ospina
Mustafi Holding Gabriel
Reine Xhaka Ramsey Ox
Welbz OG Iwobi
Why no Maitland-Niles at RB?
I like Jenks as he is a Arsenal fan and always seems to put in a minimum of 100% effort but he doesn’t look like he is able to be a backup player, he needs to play regularly to get the best out of him. Maitland-Niles has impressed when called upon and also another HG talent in the team.
Maitland-Niles looks like a really good talent and if he can step up to play RB as Bellerins main cover then we no longer need Jenks and Debuchy which would free up some wages…
@Pablo Picaso
I’d put Niles in mid instead of Reine. Niles offers more defensively…
Anyone else think it is a bit strange he doesn’t know exactly what is wrong with Ozil after two weeks?
My thoughts exactly, when Ozil contacts Wenger to say that he cannot come in for training because he is ill shouldn’t Wenger take an interest and find out exactly what is wrong with him ? If not then that is unbelievable !!
Something is wrong, when we year after year have so many injuries. Can’t be blamed on schedule and bad luck alone.
Def play Holding- he looks like a star for the future.
Perez on left (thought he was terribly on right), and Oxlade who’s been good when gets chance to play
We are looking very thin carzola wont be back elneny is out until at least the end of February we need to bluster our midfield our attacking midfield yes we can shuffle around with elexis and ozil and iwobi but is it the long term answer no I dont think so as the attacking midfield is the place where most injuries occur along the side of the defense maybe after all we should call upon fabergas if no one else is available on a personal preference I would prefer veratie
For long, arsenal’s excuse for not winning major trophies was stadium debt which crippled our transfer business. It seems the new excuses are injuries and bad luck. This is so sad. Why just arsenal? This should not be allowed to go on season after season. This great club needs a rebirth.