You don’t need any soothsayer to tell you that in recent times, Arsenal is a club that has become synonymous with injuries.
Every avid football fan would tell you that injuries are part and parcel of the game, that’s why managers have as much as 25 players to choose from. Some clubs have the luxury of having the adequate depth to soften the blow caused by an injured player while others, well, aren’t blessed with such an option.
Using the same club as a case study two season’s ago, former Arsenal skipper, Thomas Vermaelen, suffered so many injuries in the 2013/14 season but Arsenal miraculously managed to keep Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny fit and both center backs played up to 50+ games in the FA Cup-winning campaign. Lady Luck didn’t smile on the Gunners last season, with Koscielny suffering some injuries, coupled with the club’s failure to replace Thomas Vermaelen in the summer, Wenger was forced to shuffle between Calum Chambers, Nacho Monreal and even Mathieu Debuchy to partner Mertesacker in defense.
As the weeks progressed, Arsenal signed a goalie with a thigh injury, Olivier Giroud suffered a freak injury in the game against Everton that sidelined him for three to four months. Mesut Ozil suffered a knee injury in October or so, then Paddy McNair destroyed Jack Wilshere’s ankle in November. Despite the regular niggles here and there, another player, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, suffered a hamstring injury in March that halted his campaign.
At the tail end of the 2014/15 season, Danny Welbeck suffered a knee injury that has sidelined him till this moment, then Tomas Rosicky suffered an injury in the Euro 2016 qualifier for the Czech Republic against Iceland. The injury persisted through the summer and the ageless Czech missed out of the entirety of the preseason with his team.
It has already been reported that Wilshere is going to be out for four weeks following a hairline fracture on his fibula, and Rosicky is expected to join him after going under the knife to fix a niggling knee problem. According to his agent, Pavel Paska, Rosicky had an anthroscopic surgery on his knee and he’s going to be out of out for four to eight weeks.
With Wilshere and Rosicky injured, Arsenal are now short of two midfielders that add some measure of depth to the squad. Wenger is relatively stocked with options in midfield but he can ill-afford more injuries to his players. With Arsenal competing for several trophies this season, Wenger would be hoping to rotate the squad from time to time, depending on the opposition and competition but he would have to forget about using the services of Wilshere and Rosicky till October / November….and that’s me being very optimistic.
Sayonara
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