Arsenal on TV again tonight in the league cup

 

 

by Tony Attwood

• 8 men injured, but still top of the league. Can Arsenal cope with this?
• Arsenal live on TV again on Tuesday

So, having had a match to watch last night on TV with the youngsters, we’ve now got another one with the old timers tonight.   Arsenal v Crystal Palace at 7.45pm.   As with last night’s game (which, if you missed it, sadly we lost), it is on Sky Sports.

The team news for tonight is that Arteta has said that he is tempted to pick Max Dowman either for the team or maybe on the bench, not specifically because of injuries, but because of how he is in training.    You may recall he was a substitute against Port Vale in the same competition a month ago, and Arsenal appear to be showing him the same care and consideration in his development as was shown with Ethan Nwaneri. 

And we must remember also that not only does selecting such young players help the squad for these matches, it is also a fantastic advertisement for Arsenal’s youth policy.  “Come to Arsenal and you not only get trained and developed, but also you get a chance to play in senior matches if you are good enough,” is the way the club now appears to young hopefuls and their parents.   

The manager also said, “When we have to give him games, whether it is in the Youth Cup or with the under-21s or with us, he has that….   A lot of new things are happening to him with the national team, playing with two different age groups, and with us, and then preparing games with another team…  We have to manage that.”

Certainly, the injury crisis Arsenal now faces means that all options need to be explored.

Premier Injuries website now has Arsenal on eight players out, that contrasts with Wolverhampton on one.  And it is interesting to pause for a moment and reflect that during Wenger’s reign, there were a lot of comments about Arsenal getting more injuries than other teams.   Our conclusion was that teams further down the league targeted Arsenal players, knowing that referees were unlikely to penalise the offenders seriously.  It is still a point to consider.

Arsenal get 10.2 fouls against them per league game on average, which is around the average and yet the injury level is consistently high.   It could be argued that this is because the players are not coached properly, thus making them more prone to injury, or because they are tackled more severely, with referees not always taking appropriate action.    The only other explanation is that this is all just a coincidence, but that seems unlikely as it keeps on happening.

There is however a wide range in the number of fouls committed by teams in the league, which largely goes unreported, but can be appreciated by the fact that, for example, on average, Fulham commits four more fouls per match (as awarded byu the referees) than Arsenal.

Continuing with thoughts about the youngsters, other than Dowman, we can note the careful management of Ethan Nwaneri, who may also play tonight after being an unused sub in the Champions League defeat of Athletic Bilbao.

However, we do have a spot of good news, which is that both Rice and Calafiori are now fit and Saliba and Martinelli are recovering, although neither are 100% fit and so unlikely to be risked tonight.   Rice and Calafiri also might not make it beyond the bench.

Madueke, Havertz, Odegaard and Jesus are all out.    The injuries at the Palace are Kporha, Richards, who is being assessed, plus Dnanou and Doucoure who are both out.

So why do Arsenal constantly get so many injuries?   Interestingly, the media seem rather reluctant to comment on the issue, just as they don’t like to tell us who the officials are tonight, but the information is out there.   

Draw specialist Sam Barrott is the referee, with Wade Smith and Akil Howson on the lines and James Linington as the fourth official.   We’ll have more on this later on.