Southampton v Arsenal. Arsenal hit new territory with injury problem

By Bulldog Drummond

This week Arsenal have broken totally new ground in terms of injuries as listed by PremierInjuries.com

For while Pablo Mari Villar is “Ruled out” and Dani Veballos is due a “late fitness test”, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is listed but has no condition and an unnamed source has said, “”As far as I know, he is feeling very good.”

Which presumably means we have two injuries not three. How very odd.

Quite what Aubameyang is doing on the list in the first place I am not sure, but whether the injury list is two or three players, we are in a much better place than some of our rivals who have numbers of walking (or not walking) wounded approaching double figures.

Player	Reason	Further Detail	Potential Return	Condition	Status
Pablo Mari Villar	Calf/Shin/Heel Injury	Jan 15: “He had a calf injury in training [on Wednesday]. I think he will miss a few matches.”	30/01/2021	None	Ruled Out
Dani Ceballos	Calf/Shin/Heel Injury	Tight Calf Muscles	23/01/2021	Late Fitness Test	50%
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	Other	Jan 21: “As far as I know, he is feeling very good.”	23/01/2021	None	100%

Here’s the total list of injuries to put us in the context of other teams…

Injury table

Brighton and Hove Albion: 9
Southampton: 9
Crystal Palace: 8
Newcastle United: 6
Sheffield United: 6
Aston Villa: 5
Liverpool: 5
Manchester City: 5
Manchester United: 5
Everton: 4
Fulham: 4
Leeds United: 4
West Bromwich Albion: 4
Wolverhampton Wanderers: 4
Arsenal: 3
Chelsea: 2
Leicester City: 2
Burnley: 1
Tottenham Hotspur: 1
West Ham United: 1

As you can see this weekend’s opponents Southampton are right up the top with nine. I don’t normally run the details for the teams we are playing but I really can’t resist… Even if you don’t consider anything else do have a read of the “further detail” column.

Player	Reason	Further Detail	Potential Return	Condition	Status
Jannik Vestergaard	Knee Injury	Dec 26: “Jannik is definitely out for four weeks – or even more. I don’t know.”	13/02/2021	None	Ruled Out
Danny Ings	Other	Jan 14: “I don’t know if Danny can come back [to training] tomorrow, but it looks like he’s out for the weekend.”	23/01/2021	None	100%
Nathan Redmond	Groin/Hip/Pelvic Injury	Jan 03: “We will have a look. Maybe two or three more weeks, I don’t know. But it will take a little bit longer I think.”	No Return Date	None	Ruled Out
Oriol Romeu	Calf/Shin/Heel Injury	Jan 04: “Oriol will miss maybe one or two weeks so we hope that he will be back for the Leicester game.”	No Return Date	None	25%
Moussa Djenepo	Thigh Injury	Jan 04: “It looks not so good. He has had a few muscle injuries now. We must have a look how that one is.”	No Return Date	Currently Being Assessed	Ruled Out
Michael Obafemi	Other	Jan 14: “Michael has had surgery.”	No Return Date	None	Ruled Out
Mohamed Salisu	Other	Muscular Injury	No Return Date	None	25%
Nathan Tella	Other	Jan 14: “Nathan has problems with his muscle.”	No Return Date	Currently Being Assessed	Ruled Out
William Smallbone	Knee Injury	Jan 18: “It’s the worst for him and for us, an ACL injury, so half a year out, maybe.”	No Return Date	Currently Being Assessed	Ruled Out

What particularly fascinated me was William Smallbone with the Comment added “Jan 18: “It’s the worst for him and for us, an ACL injury, so half a year out, maybe,” while his condition is “currently being assessed”.

But the stress and strain of being a manager does indeed ring through. One feels for the guy being asked about each player and having to go through the whole disaster list.

So anyway, we are in good shape it seems and the manager ought to be able to put out his firs choice team without any worries.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a look at past games with Southampton and then predictions for the team from around the multi-intellects of the media.

Recent Posts

Leave a Reply