Don’t say it out loud, but we might have some good news

By Walter Broeckx

Hush, hush, whisper it softly. But there might be some good news from the injury front.

Let’s not jinx it by shouting it out loud but the news filtering through about some players sounds like music to my ears.

We know that Kallstrom has been fit for 2 weeks and has played a few minutes and thus giving us an extra option in midfield. So that is nice.

And we have Monreal back in full training after an injury. Now I must say I never really found out what the injury was. But the most important thing is that he has resumed full training with the rest.

And when I am typing this Abou Diaby is also in full training with the team. One must be very careful with writing this down. Because if there is one player who has been so terribly unlucky with injuries it is Diaby. In a way it is terrible that such a player with so much potential never has been able to fulfil this potential because of his injury problems.

I don’t need to remind you how it all went wrong for him when that **** destroyed his ankle on that terrible day. Ever since that day it has been a horrible fight back from Diaby. Amazing how after all those years he still has the courage to fight against the injuries and still wants to show his potential.

Rumour has it that he has refused to being paid over the last year until he would be completely fit. I don’t know if this is true but if it would be true it shows that he really is a person who not only is thinking about himself. In fact grabbing the money would have been the easiest way to do for him. But I think it is his way of paying back Arsenal for the fact that they have so much confidence in his potential.

When and if he will play this season remains to be seen. But I do hope that we will see the best of Diaby still this season. Because when he is in form he is something special and extraordinary. At the start of the season 2012-2013 he was in great form. Who can forget his man of the match performance when he almost on his own destroyed Liverpool at Anfield. Oh please let this be the Diaby that comes back in the next weeks. If anyone it is him that would deserve to finally have some good luck and play to his best.

And then we have the man who probably would have been our player of the season (still might be voted that way) or even best player in the PL overall: Aaron Ramsey. I will whisper it silently so the injury devils are not aware of it but he also seems to be back in full training. I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that he doesn’t have a setback this time like he did last time around.

From the first kick of the ball in pre season till his injury around Christmas Ramsey was the player in form. This was the Ramsey we had seen glimpses of before that other **** broke his leg. No, this was a Ramsey that was even ten times better than the pre-injury one. For me as a self-confessed Ramsey lover this was pay back time to the doubters.

But we must be careful about his return. We can’t expect him to hit the ground running. That would be great of course and if he feels like it, then he shouldn’t hesitate and just do it. As we enter the last months of the Nike deal I still can use the expression ‘just do it’. But I think it will take him a few matches to get back to that level he reached at the start of the season.

It sure would bring a lot of extra energy to the team. His work rate and him covering every inch of the pitch in a match is something that brings something extra to the team. And also we mustn’t forget that he still is the second best goal scorer of Arsenal this season. And that for a player that has been out for more than 3 months.

In fact his goal scoring record in total this season has been amazing. He had 25 starts in total and has scored 13 goals. That is 1 goal in 2 matches. Not bad for a midfielder that couldn’t score. Wenger said it a while ago: once he starts scoring he will not stop. Well Wenger sure was right about that one. Till he got injured of course.

To follow up with these numbers Walcott and Giroud also have the same goal ratio. Scoring one goal every other match they start. But there is one even better. Podolski scoring 8 goals and having 12 starts to his name.

To continue these numbers if  we take all the appearances we have

Giroud 39 starts + 4 appearances and 19 goals. A goal ratio of 0.44/match

Ramsey 25 starts + 2 appearances and 13 goals. A goal ratio of  0.48/match

Walcott 13 starts + 5 appearances and 6 goals. A goal ratio of 0.33/match

Podolski 12 starts + 7 appearances and 8 goals. A goal ratio of 0.42/match.

These are the top scorers so far of Arsenal. And looking at them we see that only Giroud has been injury free so far this season. Ramsey, Walcott and Podolksi all have been out for more than 3 months. Just imagine if the all would have been fit this season….

Back to the players I mentioned in this article and their return. We don’t know if Wenger will use them or will put them on the bench and bring them slowly. We know Wenger brought Walcott slowly back after his first injury at the start of the season. We might see the same with Ramsey. We don’t want any set backs at this time of the season.

So we will wait and see how things develop in the next days. And there might even be some more good news about some other injured players like Özil, Koscielny and Wilshere in the next week. It sure would be nice to have all those players fit from now till the end of the season.

Are we finally getting rid of the injury bad luck we had to cope with all season? Or have I jinxed it by writing this down and have I woken up the injury devils… Ah for once go somewhere else will you….