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Rosicky Out for Six Weeks + FA Cup Fifth Round Draws
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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Tomas Rosicky on the Road to Full Fitness
This might be his last season for the club after close to a decade of service but Tomas Rosicky is one player that has given his all to the club from the first time he kicked the ball in North London as far back as 2006.
Injuries have robbed him from the best part of his Arsenal career but when he played, he has been phenomenal. The last time he featured for the first team was around May 2015 as the season was reaching its climax but he suffered a knee injury that required surgery to mitigate the problem he had.
After close to seven months out of action, Rosicky featured for the Under-21s in their 0-0 draw with Swansea’s Under-21s.
The team had some notable faces like Matt Macey, Ismael Bennacer, Julio Pleguezuelo, Chris Willock, Dan Crowley and Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
Rosicky must have felt like a grandpa playing among those kids but the important thing was getting minutes under his belt. From the match report I read, Rosicky had a shot that went over the bar and that was the most notable highlight for the Czech legend. After 45 minutes, grandpa Rosicky was replaced by McGuane.
Having a player like Rosicky available for selection is welcome news.
Time to focus on my lectures.
Sayonara
A Tale of Wilshere, Rosicky and Arsenal’s Ever-Increasing Injury List
Rosicky joins the injury list. Who’s next?
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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