Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 10. We’re top once again

Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 10

By Dale Higginbottom

Gameweek 10 saw some interesting results and performances by the so-called title contenders but how do the injury figures stack up?

Arsenal Vs West Ham

Arsenal (7 injuries)

• Goalkeeper – Almunia (4)
• Defence – Vermaelen (7), Gibbs (3)
• Midfield – Frimpong (9), Ramsey (10), Diaby (3)
• Attack – van Persie (7)

Additional issues: No additional issues reported.

Man Utd Vs Tottenham

Man Utd (6 injuries)

• Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
• Defence – Evans (2)
• Midfield – Hargreaves (10), Valencia (6), Giggs (3)
• Attack – Rooney (4), Owen (2)

Additional issues: Despite playing the full 90 minutes in the Carling Cup it appears Jonny Evans was not available for selection after a recurrence of his hip injury.

Tottenham (6 injuries)

• Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
• Defence – Dawson (7), King (4), Corluka (1)
• Midfield – O’Hara (10), Huddlestone (1)
• Attack – Defoe (8)

Additional issues: Woodgate, not in the 25-man squad, is not included in this list despite being injured.

Wolves Vs Man City

Man City (4 injuries)

• Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
• Defence – Kolarov (9)
• Midfield – M. Johnson (10)
• Attack – Tchuimeni-Nimely (7), Tevez (1)

Additional issues: Kolo Toure was back after a short injury and played 90 minutes.

Blackburn Vs Chelsea

Chelsea (3 injuries)

• Goalkeeper, defence, attack – No injuries reported
• Midfield – Lampard (7), Benayoun (5), Ramires (2)

Additional issues: Alex returned from injury and was fit to play the full game.

Bolton Vs Liverpool

Liverpool (4 injuries)

• Goalkeeper, midfield– No injuries reported
• Defence – Agger (4), Johnson (2)
• Attack – Kuyt (5), Babel (1)

Additional issues: Cole picked up an injury and was replaced after 61 minutes.

So, our time away from the top of the injury tree was only short-lived. As we’ve had none of our long-term victims return but, have recently lost Gibbs for the next few weeks, we’ve crept back to the top of the injury table.

The performance this week did not appear to be linked to injuries as there were plenty of options for Arsene to change things about. Three points is three points however late the goal may come but I think we can be thankful that we had the attacking quality of Bendtner and Walcott on the bench to come on and change things, something which we’ve not always had this season.

With six injuries each Tottenham have nothing to really complain about in their game against Man Utd. OK, there was Nani’s goal, but there’s nothing on an injury front that they must think themselves as unlucky. It’s amazing how many centre-backs Tottenham need and how much they must be spending on wages in order to simply put out a balanced and fit team, surely that’s not really the way to run a football club.

Man Utd seem to now be steadying the ship after the Rooney debacle and appear to be getting performances out of the right players at the right time. A big test might come for them in a couple of weeks as they go away to City and then Villa.

Tevez is a huge miss for City. Even when down to 10 men last week I always thought that Tevez could do something but once he was substituted there seemed to be very little threat up front.

This week it was shown up even more so. Adebayor appeared as reliable in front of goal as he was with us and Balotelli still needs time to settle into the Premier League. We’ve been without our best striker for most of the season and it hasn’t really shown up too much. City have been without Tevez for a game and a half and are showing a lack of strength in depth which isn’t good considering their financial outlay over the past three seasons.

On a side note with regards City, I’d not realised that Michael Johnson has been out with injury all season so I’ve added him from now on and adjusted the overall figures.

Chelsea and Liverpool both got late wins and both needed the late goals as neither team could really put their poor performances down to massive injury concerns. Chelsea again had very few injuries to report but for them these seem important ones. All three of their injuries are in creative midfield roles and maybe another injury in that area might cause them to drop points if some of the others don’t step up to the plate.

Liverpool’s injuries are again at the lower end of the spectrum and it would be very interesting to see how they might cope later in the season when the games stack up. They need a lot of luck with injuries between now and January to have any hope of getting near to the top four.

After ten games the league is now taking shape. Despite the injury concerns of past weeks we’re settled in the top four and there is hope of returning players over the next couple of weeks to give us even more opportunities to rotate and rest players. November looks like it could be a good month for us for a change.

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