Mikel Arteta has thanked fans of Arsenal and Liverpool after he suffered a severe concussion when Jordan Henderson momentarily thought he was playing the NFL.
The Arsenal midfielder took the full impact of Henderson’s sly shoulder to his jaw and was stretchered off with an oxygen mask to generous applause from the home fans, considering his Everton past.
Arteta described the incident as ‘terrifying’ although said he remembered little of it, but made a point of acknowledging the reception he got at Anfield on Saturday.
“I’ve since looked back at the TV images of when I was being taken off and just want to show my appreciation to the Liverpool fans at Anfield,” he said. “It is touching to receive that response from the fans of a great club when I am leaving the pitch injured. Thank you.
“I also want to thank Pepe Reina and the Liverpool players who have sent me messages of support and friendship, this again is really touching and just shows class from a great football club.
“And very importantly, a message to all the fantastic Arsenal fans, not only all those at Anfield on Saturday who were brilliant, but also those who have sent me many messages since Saturday. It is hugely appreciated.”
The Spaniard could well be in contention to play against AC Milan tomorrow night having declared himself ‘fine’, but Arsene Wenger should confirm his availability soon when he meets the press ahead of the Champions League tie.
Update: Arteta is out of tomorrow’s game, Arsene confirms at his press conference.
Henderson, meanwhile, seems to have escaped punishment despite replays which seem to illustrate contact with Arteta was deliberate. While he clearly wasn’t expecting his opponent to turn face first into him, he should still be held accountable for the damage he did.
I don’t think Henderson intentionally wanted to hurt him (not that bad I mean it was a “tactic foul”, foul a player to not let the other team break and counter attack)
And I wouldn’t risk him anyway, CL tie is pretty much done and EPL is the priority at the moment.
when you ‘bosh’ a player in this game you are not trying to give him flowers or a massage..
I am tired of this ‘he didn’t mean to hurt him’ crap..
you ‘bosh’ him, he is hurt. its your fault.
it’s called causality. (read a science book).
people who smash other people are not victims.
Henderson was running and essenitally shoulder tackled him. You don’t give some a concussion from a sly little tap.
I Think the lIverpool fans were great for applauding him off the field . and It’s good Arteta remembered us the Tellyclappers
I think you have to give Henderson the benefit of doubt, If it had been Barton or Cattermole then I’d say it was malicious.
Well he played with Cuntermole in Sunderland
Because his shoulder is not that kind of a shoulder? If you drive a car at 100 miles an hour and injure someone you would be held accountable, even if you only did it once and you’re not that kind of a person and you didn’t mean it. Now if Arteta had the ball and he bumped into him accidentally, everyone would just accept it as an occupational hazard and move on. But he didn’t, the ball was miles away.
Nice of them to clap the stretcher off. Not so nice of them to cheer it on in the first place
if that had been song, or diaby or indeed any of arsenals players, theyd have been sent off, sky would still be showing slowed down magnified replays of it, & Geoff shreeves would be waging a one man campaign to have the player banned for 10 games.
it’s sickening to see such blatant offences like this against arsenal players go unpunished. how many times have we seen instances like this in the last few seasons?
hardly surprising, we always get the shit end of the stick. bale dives, nothing. eduardo.. slated to no end. rooney took a tumble last year, nothing, its just double standards between our own and foreign players, and its something we have to live with. when it comes to england on the international stage, fair enough, our players are our players and i support them regardless of what happens, but when its PL season time,its all about the club instead of nations and all are equals and the bias in the press is appalling. one of those things. also worth mentioning… Read more »
they didn’t even show it on motd highlights.
I don’t get why they would cut that out completely, unless there was some kind of agenda there.
Fucking spot on, I supose that knobhead Henderson had to do something to get noticed because he’s fucking shit
Shouldering bastard. Looks like Arteta won’t play against Milan. Pretty glad he won’t be risked, concussion isn’t something to brush off lightly.
You gotta say he looked like he knew what he was doing there.
Get well soon Mikel! That said, I was livid when it happened. The wankers on TV said there usual “oh there was nothing in it” and “Certainly it was just an accident, he just ran into him” but on the replays you can clearly see Henderson move his shoulder as he moves into contact with Arteta. I hope that little muppet should get flattened the next time we play them. Will said, if it had been Diaby, Song, etc from Arsenal (not coincidentally a player who isn’t English) they’d have probably gotten a red card from the ref. As usual… Read more »
This guy oozes class, professionally and personally, what a guy. Get well soon Mikel, need you back to your best asap!
Of course the contact was fucking deliberate. Jordan Henderson is not only one of the most over-rated players in the Premier League, but also one lousy sportsman. It was not an accident. Henderson tried to injure Arteta and obviously he succeeded. The FA must do something.
I don’t blame the ref for not spotting it – he had his back to Mikel. What gets me is Kos is looking straight past the incident at the ball (watch the gif) and doesn’t even react. If he had run to the ref and complained, Henderson might have been sent off.
You can’t blame Kos for not doing anything, at least in the .gif, since there was no whistle, not until the foul on Song. Anyway, no matter how commonplace it is, players should not be running to complain to the ref.
Imagine what the game would be like if Man U., Chelsea & Barcelona players didn’t spend 80 of the 90+ minutes in a game surrounding the ref and complaining that a card should be shown! Would they even know what to do with themselves?
i hope he don’t play him against Milan – really, severe concussion and he’s ‘fine’ 3 days later? Think he’s just being a brave lad but don’t take a risk with him Arsene!!
Classy move from a classy guy.
Somebody in the team had better let Henderson know he doesn’t get to pull shit like that next time we play. Go through him any chance they get
Typical desperate scouse play. If they’re not diving in the box, they’re doing dirty behind the ref’s back.
I think we should complain about it to the fa, just to make it an issue and to make people look at it. As we should also do with the dives of monkeyboy and beaver. After the treatment Eduardo and AFC got, it’s simply unacceptable nobody even talks about those dives
Fabulous headline.
Well, That was Klanfield and they will never wank alone..
Whichever way you look at the incident, Joey Barton is a complete and utter cunt.
Spot on those pointing out the difference this would’ve made if it was a non-english Arsenal player committing this assualt.
It makes me fucking sick how these media cunts can talk about stamping racism out of the game one minute, then resort back to sneering, xenophobic innuendo the next. The fucking cunts
[…] when Diaby made his briefest of comebacks. Coming on in the 52nd minute for Arteta, who had been horrifically knocked out by what looked like an NFL tackle by Jordan Henderson, Diaby could only last 28 minutes before limping off. The Arsenal crowd around me erupted into […]