- Just published by Arsenal History: 100 years in the top league, Arsenal with Liam Brady
And on Untold Arsenal….
By Tony Attwood
The main news for Arsenal, of course, is that of the injuries, with PremierInjuries.com showing that Arsenal have a ludicrous 12 players who have been receiving treatment in the past week, many as a result of playing in internationals. And of course, we have been getting a mouthful of criticism from the media for withdrawing them!
Merino, we know, is out for a very long time, and he won’t play again this season. Eze is not going to be out for as long as Merino, but is certainly not ready to play today.
Madueke, however, is giving us some hope that it won’t be a youth team playing tonight, and he is being rated as 50% for the game.
With Reyna, on the other hand, things are very unclear, and we are still at the “being assessed” stage, but the indications are no, he won’t be pushed back in for this game, but will be given a chance to recover for the match against Sporting. (And how these European clubs must be laughing at the way the FA and League cram our clubs’ schedules with game after game, while they have time to pull back and recover).
William Saliba, however, does seem to have made a recovery and is being given a rating of “75% likely to play”, which is the first bit of really good news in the follow-up to the internationals. And indeed a similar tale is emerging for Gabriel dos Santos Magalhaes – he might well make it also.
Leandro Trossard is likewise said to be making progress but not as quickly, and I doubt he will be risked, for of course we are not just thinking here of the FA Cup match against Southampton tonight, but also Sporting away three days later, in the Champions League.
Despite having time to recover, Saka is still only rated as 50/50 after his injury, and the same is true of Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi.
Which leaves us with just two players who have fully recovered: Martin Odegaard and Jurrien Timber. Or at least that is how it looks to me, but of course if we put those two in the team, the first thing the opposition players will do is give them a few kicks which the ref may not notice, so they certainly need some solid protection around them.
Yes sadly, it looks hoever as if Arsenal and the squad are not learning from this experience, as there is no sign of anyone saying, “This is ludicrous, it is the club that pays my wages, and I want to play; that’s the end of internationals for me.” That’s what they should be saying, but no, they don’t. We can at least be grateful that no one is suspended!
Sporting News pulls all this together and gives us
Kepa
White, Salmon, Mosquera, Calafiori
Havertz, Norgaard, Lewis-Skelly
Dowman, Gyokeres,
Jesus
Interestingly, despite all the injjuries, it seems that Arsenal are still favourites to win despite having 12 men down.
Now, of course, not everyone sees forthcoming matches as I do, and the Metro today runs the headline, “Mikel Arteta may opt to rest a number of his Arsenal stars against Southampton.” To which I reply “REST????????” Personally, I don’t think there is much choice, given the decimation of our squad during the internationals, but perhaps they know something I don’t know.
They give us
Kepa
Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly
Havertz, Norgaard, Odegaard
Dowman, Martinelli
Jesus
There is an interesting point here about Martinelli – coming on as he does with around 20 minutes to go, his speed and ability to change directions often get a boost when he is playing against defenders who are tired. But then it is a risk to keep him waiting. A goal from him or aided by him, early in the game, can then unsettle the rest of the opposition, and lead them to take more risks which the other forwards can exploit.
The Standard go for
Kepa;
White, Mosquera, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly;
Norgaard, Odegaard, Havertz;
Dowman, Jesus, Martinelli
And what I would say at this point is that despite this mountain of injuries that the club has had thrown at it by the players’ insistence on playing internationals just before vital cup games, the media is still able to come up with some variation in the squad. That does say a lot for the strength of the Arsenal’s player list.
Also, I think we are particularly fortunate to have both Odegaard and Havertz back and firing on all cylinders. With all the publicity there will be about Downman if he starts, there might just be a moment or two where defenders’ eyes are taken off Odegaard and Havertz, which could work to our advantage.
Of course, this is not to excuse the insanity of these internationals, and the sooner Arsenal find a way to persuade players to decline invitations to play for their countries just before vital league or cup matches, the better. But sadly, players don’t seem to think that way.
But we can always hope.
