Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 13
By Dale Higginbottom
With Carling Cup taking centre-stage this mid-week I’m going to keep this brief and allow Phil or Tony to preview the exciting fixture to come. This week finally saw Diaby return to the league squad after picking up an injury in pre-season but unfortunately he has now again been declared as having a muscle injury. Fortunately for him, it is said not to be serious so hopefully he’ll be again back in the squad soon.
This week’s injury totals are:
| A = Ankle | K = Knee |
| B = Back | L = Achilles |
| C = Calf | M = Muscle |
| D = Dead Leg | N = Hip |
| E = Hamstring | R = Rib |
| F = Fatigue/Lack of Fitness | S = Shoulder |
| G = Groin | T = Thigh |
| H = Head Injury/Concussion | U = Unknown |
| I = Illness | Y = Hand |
| J = Foot | Z = Broken Leg |
Arsenal Vs Fulham (1-1)
| Injuries | Arsenal (5 + 0S) | Fulham (6 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Sagna (A,7), Gibbs (M,7), Jenkinson (B,3) | Grygera (K), Kelly (G) |
| Midfield | Wilshere (A,13), Miyaichi (A.4) | Davies (K), Duff (C), Sidwell (M) |
| Attack | N/A | Sa (E) |
| Additional issues | N/A | N/A |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Chelsea Vs Wolves (3-0)
| Injuries | Chelsea (1 + 0S) | Wolves (2 + 2S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | N/A | Foley (A), Stearman (Y) |
| Midfield | Essien (K,13) | N/A |
| Attack | N/A | N/A |
| Additional issues | Cole was a doubt with an ankle injury but started and played the whole game. | Zubar returned to the squad, he started and played the first 75 mins. |
| Suspended | N/A | Hunt, O’Hara |
West Brom Vs Tottenham (1-3)
| Injuries | West Brom (0 + 0S) | Tottenham (6 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | N/A | Dawson (L,9), Corluka (A.5) |
| Midfield | N/A | Huddlestone (A,9), Kranjcar (A,8), Modric (I,2) |
| Attack | N/A | Van der Vaart (E,2) |
| Additional issues | Dorrans, Scharner, Long & Odemwingie wer all doubts but all were included in the squad. The former two were unused subs but Long started and was replaced by Odemwingie after 72 mins. Gera also had to be replaced after 21 mins after an injury. | Defoe was a doubt but started and played the whole game. |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
Liverpool Vs Man City (1-1)
| Injuries | Liverpool (2 + 0S) | Man City (1 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Robinson (A,5) | N/A |
| Midfield | Gerrard (A,9) | Hargreaves (C,6) |
| Attack | N/A | N/A |
| Additional issues | N/A | N/A |
| Suspended | N/A | N/ |
Man Utd Vs Newcastle (1-1)
| Injuries | Man Utd (5 + 0S) | Newcastle (4 + 0S) |
| Goalkeeper | N/A | N/A |
| Defence | Rafael (S,13) | Williamson (A) |
| Midfield | Cleverley (A,7), Anderson (K,3) | Marveaux (G), Tiote (K) |
| Attack | Owen (T,7), Welbeck (M,4) | Best (G) |
| Additional issues | Gibson returned to the squad but was an unused sub. Rooney played the whole game, he was a slight doubt. | Guthrie was a doubt be he started and played 74 minutes. Obertan also returned to the squad and played 65 minutes. |
| Suspended | N/A | N/A |
So, It’s the Tiny Totts back on top this week. Arsenal and United again make up the top three and City, Liverpool and Chelsea are again bizarrely hovering around the bottom with practically no injuries.
Arsenal had a bit of an off game on Saturday but can you really blame the team? It’s been a great run of results to get us back to where we are now and all without two or three key players. The important thing is we’re almost through the league games for November (our “bad” month) and have only dropped two league points and are the only English team to get through to the Champions League knock-out stages (topping the group, might I add). Part of me is getting a bit of a similar feeling to the 2005/2006 season where we had a great CL run but mediocre league form but maybe, with only a third of the season gone, it’s a bit too soon to draw comparisons there.
Anyway, 1-1 was the result of the weekend with Liverpool, City and United also only picking up a point in their games. Chelsea have managed a victory for a change and the Tiny Totts continue their good run of results.
It really shows that, unless you have an extremely good squad, playing in the league and the Champions League is tough and somewhere, something’s got to give. Tottenham’s league form is much better now they are not in the CL and City’s CL form is pretty poor as all focus appears to be on winning the league. Maybe the trick is to just do enough in each game and have faith in the squad, oh and a bit of luck on the injury front always helps.
So, it’s all the fun of the diddy cup and despite having a tough opponent in (the injury-immune) Man City, the team that Arsenal put out is almost certain to be fringe and youth players. It will also be interesting to see the sort of team that City field tonight. Will they be too concerned about maintaining their league form and be more worried about the Champions League next Tuesday? I hope that is the case and our youngsters have the freedom to play their game.
It would be great to be only the second domestic team to beat City this season and maybe their recent difficult games are the start of a bad run, maybe coupled with a spattering of future injuries? We can but hope.
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