By Bulldog Drummond
It is all looking a bit gloomy in the injury league table, which probably explains why various websites have been desperately trying to cook up long term injury tables (without any proper analysis of the statistics) to show that Arsenal have the worst injury record of all time, or at least the last 2000 years.
Here is the current physioroom list…
| # | Club | Total number of injuries | Last man down | What went wrong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crystal Palace | 9 | F Campbell | Muscle Injury |
| 2 | Hull City | 8 | O Elabdellaoui | Back Injury |
| 3 | Sunderland | 8 | J O’Shea | Shin |
| 4 | Manchester U | 7 | J Mata | Groin/Pelvis Injury |
| 5 | Liverpool | 7 | S Mane | Knee Injury |
| 6 | Watford | 7 | S Prodl | Calf Injury |
| 7 | West Ham | 7 | P Obiang | High Ankle Sprain |
| 8 | Everton | 6 | R Funes Mori | Cartilage Knee I |
| 9 | Southampton | 6 | M Gabbiadini | Groin Strain |
| 10 | Man City | 6 | R Sterling | Back Injury |
| 11 | Stoke City | 5 | G Cameron | Thigh |
| 12 | Bournemouth | 5 | R Fraser | Hamstring Injury |
| 13 | Swansea City | 5 | G Sigurdsson | Knock |
| 14 | Leicester City | 5 | M Albrighton | Illness |
| 15 | Chelsea | 5 | T Courtois | Hip Injury |
| 16 | Arsenal | 4 | P Cech | Calf Strain |
| 17 | Tottenham | 4 | V Janssen | Illness |
| 18 | Burnley | 4 | S Arfield | Knock |
| 19 | Middlesbrough | 3 | G Friend | Calf Strain |
| 20 | West Pulis | 3 | N Chadli | Shoulder |
Arsenal’s injured list is
| Player | What’s up? | When he’ll be back | Doubt level |
| L Perez | Thigh Strain | No Return Date | Major Doubt |
| K Gibbs | Knock | April 2, 2017 | Slight Doubt |
| P Cech | Calf Strain | April 10, 2017 | Major Doubt |
| S Cazorla | Plantaris Injury | July 1, 2017 | Major Doubt |
The fact that Gibbs is shown as returning possibly tomorrow but is currently listed as injured does show the vagaries of the list, and once again reflects the fact that the number of injuries is dependent upon the way in which the injuries are reported to the club. He certainly wasn’t on the list of injuries that Mr Wenger mentioned.
But the less intellectual elements of the press are still running the ludicrous “official” story of Arsenal being the most injury prone team in the league. It certainly gives a whole new meaning to the word “official”. But even so the Mirror has decided that “Alexis Sanchez will battle through an injury to scare to start against Manchester City on Sunday.” Mr Wenger apparently described it as “Bone bruising. He could normally play.”
Of course as is usual these days the media wasted most of the press conference asking questions about Mr Wenger’s future which they know he won’t answer. So now time passes by and he just taunts them with comments such as “Just continue to ask the same questions [about my future] and one day I will answer.” But the journos are so thick they don’t get it.
One new stat he came up with which was interesting was that Arsenal have scored more goals from subs than any other team. I am not sure what that implies, but it is an oddity.
On the subject of the video referees he said that when he saw the news that it is coming he thought to himself, “why didn’t that happen 15 years ago?” The answer of course, as he knows, but is not allowed to say because of PL rules is, “Fifa, the FA, PGMO”.
As he went on to say, “I said always the first thing is to deal with the offsides. It shows first of all you would go to a complete different conclusion of the game. Cut out all the interference which can corrupt referees, which exists in the world. This video will be a good plan to fight against that.
In terms of the game against Man City he said, “It promises to be an attacking game. They go for it, we go for it. It should be a promising game.”
Here is the regular (or is it occasional) list of top 20 goal scorers in the Premier League this season (before the saturday afternoon games)
| Ranking | Player | Team | Goals (Penalty) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Romelu Lukaku | Everton | 21 (0) |
| 2. | Harry Kane | Tottenham Hotspur | 19 (4) |
| 3. | Alexis Sánchez | Arsenal | 18 (2) |
| 4. | Diego Costa | Chelsea | 17 (0) |
| 5. | Zlatan Ibrahimović | Manchester United | 15 (1) |
| 6. | Dele Alli | Tottenham Hotspur | 14 (1) |
| Jermain Defoe | Sunderland | 14 (5) | |
| 8. | Kun Agüero | Manchester City | 13 (3) |
| Sadio Mané | Liverpool | 13 (0) | |
| 10. | Eden Hazard | Chelsea | 11 (2) |
| Joshua King | AFC Bournemouth | 11 (2) | |
| Llorente | Swansea City | 11 (0) | |
| 13. | Christian Benteke | Crystal Palace | 10 (2) |
| 14. | Michail Antonio | West Ham United | 9 (0) |
| Troy Deeney | Watford | 9 (3) | |
| Roberto Firmino | Liverpool | 9 (0) | |
| Jamie Vardy | Leicester City | 9 (0) | |
| 18. | Olivier Giroud | Arsenal | 8 (0) |
| Andre Gray | Burnley | 8 (2) | |
| Pedro | Chelsea | 8 (0) | |
| Gylfi Sigurðsson | Swansea City | 8 (3) | |
| Theo Walcott | Arsenal FC | 8 (0) |
One last thing for today. Here are the top three current rankings from WhoScored on the Arsenal team
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What makes me publish that is the fact that I have seen several comments this week to the effect that Mustafi was a waste of money, as were all the other summer signings this year.
Funny ol game. In the next post – the teams…
Arsenal v Man City – the previews and the news from the boardroom
Arsenal v Man City, and bad Arsenal runs under previous managers.
Stan Kronke in secret talks with Joe Lewis over ending Tottenham stadium funding impasse
Arsenal v Manchester City Sunday 02 April 2017 – The Match Officials
Whoscored-pogba 7.74,Kante 7.23
That leaves much to be desired by this ratings
HI Walter and Tony, what is a good place to watch the game tomorrow in Brussels ?
Stephan still digging for crap on Arsenal. Gord is right. You are a spade.
Stephan the spade.
Wenger’s been saying some quite interesting stuff lately. Apart from his opinion on the VAR he also let on that he did in fact make the controversial bid for Suarez and also that he (very surprisingly) approves of forwards diving.
Perry Groves thinks that maybe he’s looking to recruit the likes of Vieira into the back up team. He definitely needs a hand.
Yes, saw those PV rumours…..I will believe that when I see it
Menace…you so funnny
I just pointed out something logical to you but all you have to say is call me spade?
Lol,that just shows your level of reasoning
Embarrassing
When things go wrong for Wenger,blame the ref. So when things go wrong for Arsenal naturally the manager is to be
held accountable.He is a trifle lucky.
Managers have been unceremonyiosly sacked one sec after a game.
If he goes toe to toe with MC,he could be beaten.Anti soccer is not in his dna. If he wants to win,he has to shoot on sight like what Huall and afew other teams do.
Otherwise his passiname with no shooting will end in disaster .
Stephan, don’t worry about Menace. He’s tolerated for his eccentricity.
Every blog needs it’s Menace ?
Wenger has realised he needs an English diver in his team. Vardy, Ali, they can do no wrong for media and referees. I have heard they are installing trampolines at Colney to improve and practice diving.
Walter
Walcott was a complete failure, and I’ve never seen any evidence of Ox , Welbeck or any of the other English players attempting this, so he’ll have to tutor them well.
Stephan, have you ever been to a football match?
You call stats on Kante & Pogba logical? We are talking Arsenal & you bring in media darlings that are rubbish. Personally I don’t accept the stats because there is no verification of authenticity.
Leon Is digging next to you dude. He must be the shovel full of spud manure.
Looking forward to Wengers next few years with Arsenal & all the crud off to wonderland.