This weekend saw FA Cup duties resume for the teams that were still in the fourth round. Most Premier League teams had routine results with Manchester United, Tottenham, Arsenal, Everton, Watford, Bournemouth and Chelsea getting victories over their lower division opposition. West Brom were surprisingly held at home by Peterborough, which ensures that the lower league side has earned a replay. In the all-Premier League encounters, Crystal Palace edged past Stoke while Manchester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho was the star as he bagged a hat-trick in the Citizen’s win over Aston Villa.
The fifth round fixtures are out with the tasty draw of the round being the Chelsea vs Manchester City clash. There are two other Premier League clashes with Bournemouth hosting Everton and a London derby between Tottenham and Crystal Palace. Arsenal host Hull (again!), Watford welcomes Leeds United to town while Manchester United visit Shrewsbury Town.
The games will take place on February 19, 2016, so Arsenal’s Premier League fixture against Everton could be rescheduled.
When the Gunners hosted Burnley on Saturday, some players made their comebacks from injury with Alexis Sanchez and Francis Coquelin making their impact on the game with the Chilean scoring a goal and providing an assist while Le Coq played 90 minutes and worked in tandem with new boy, Mohamed Elneny.
The game also marked the return to competitive action for Tomas Rosicky that came on in the 70th minute for the impressive Alex Iwobi. Rosicky had a decent game by his standards, making some neat touches and passes, and from the roar of the Emirates faithful when he entered the pitch, you could see how much the player was missed.
According to the Mirror, the legendary Czech midfield maestro has suffered a thigh injury and he’s set to miss up to six weeks of action. When you think of the fact that Rosicky has been on the sidelines since May, you can’t help but feel disappointed about the situation. Rosicky is one player that gives the team a different dynamism in midfield with his surging turns and perfectly-cushioned through balls but he also offers a goal threat as well.
In Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Francis Coquelin, Mathieu Flamini. Mohamed Elneny, Mikel Arteta and to some extent, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Wenger still has the personnel he can feature at central midfield but losing Rosicky is a big blow. If this initial prognosis is right, we won’t see the Czech till mid-March and this is me hoping that he would have another setback like Jack Wilshere, that’s set to be out for six more weeks.
It’s likely that Rosicky’s contract will not be extended beyond this season, and I will be hoping that he could still make an impact before the season concludes in May.
Sayonara.
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