Mikel Arteta appears, as expected, to have done some serious damage to his ankle and according to the Guardian will play no part in the final four games of the season.
The former Everton man is thought to have torn ligaments after rolling his ankle, which if we take past examples including Robin van Persie and Per Mertesacker, means he’ll spend much of the summer undergoing treatment.
It leaves Arsene Wenger with something of a headache, or perhaps it’s a no-brainer, ahead of Saturday’s important clash with Chelsea. Without the Spaniard, and the ineligible Yossi Benayoun, the Frenchman has little choice but to ask Aaron Ramsey to overcome his apparent confidence issues in the centre of the park with Tomas Rosicky and Alex Song adding the craft and grit.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a further option, although with Gervinho struggling to find form it wouldn’t be surprising to see the England under-21 starting on the left with Walcott on the right. Abou Diaby could feature from the bench having put in another 45 minute shift for the reserves on Wednesday against Oman’s Olympic team.
Having lost Arteta and then the game on Monday evening against Wigan, many fans have vented their frustration with the young Welshman after his somewhat staid and static performance. What many seem to have overlooked is the fact the other 13 players wearing red and white (or blue in Szczesny’s case) also played like they’d just got out of bed.
Fingers crossed the 21-year-old finds not just his shooting boots, but also his passing, running, standing and whatnot boots ahead of Saturday. That being said if we’re going to beat Chelsea, we’ll need the whole squad, from front to back, to put in a shift
Oh no!
Mikel plays too pivotal a role…don’ t think Ramsey could effectively fill his boots…have to wait and watch i guess…
Chelsea won…lucky bastards…Drogba put in brilliant theatrical performances…
Bad news day for us…
ramsey is playing like ‘just another midfielder’.even though he is playing decent he does not seem to be add Real Quality to the midfield.the problem is he is not playing with an objective.he has to show us clearly what his style of game is..right now he’s just a confused lad who is desperate for everything.hope he proves me wrong against chelsea. come on RAMBO. i really want to get one over chelsea.i mean the away(5-3) victory is not really satisfying considering all the troubles chelsea gave us over the years.we were really the underdogs at that time and we were… Read more »
With arteta out i expect the acMilan line-up (home leg ofcourse) to do just fine for the rest of the season in a perfect world!, but in wengers’, there’s no chance of this happening.
i think wenger is a better manager than you
I’ve criticized Ramsey recently, but while I don’t have a problem with his presence for our remaining games, I have a huge problem with Arteta’s absence. It’s funny (odd/painful, not hilarious) just how much optimism about Saturday has been shaved off with this news.
perfect opportunity for:
1) the ox to terrorise these four teams,
2) for ramsey to reaslise his importance to the team and rise to the challenge ( i suspect ramsey’s poor form was due, in part, to his uncertainty about selection with benayoun and arteta in the squad)
every setback is a blessing in disguise.
Apart from if Robin gets injured, Chamakh’s no blessing.
As long as everyone puts in a shift this Saturday then we still have a good chance of beating this scum. But you can be sure Chelski are gonna be feeling pretty confident after lasts night result…especially that ugly twat upfront.
COYG!
I have to think they’ll be keeping something in reserve for the second leg. They know that Barca will score at least one at home, the ref will be helping Barca and that they will have got Real Madrid out of the way. This means no handbrake for Barca, chelsea would be mugs if they didn’t realise that and risked an all out game on Saturday. maybe they realise they haven’t got a real chance with only a one goal lead, after all . . . I mean, well that’s old history but it still fucking hurts . . .… Read more »
Hahaha yeah, drogba the diva…lol.
The mother of all drama queens spent half the time on the ground clutching his nuts….or is it his vag***?.
Poor girl
Hahaha yeah, drogba the diva…lol.
The mother of all drama queens spent half the time on the ground clutching his nuts….or is it his vag***?.
Poor girl.
GWS
I remember fabregas saying that Ramsey made him worry for his starting place, obviously before that horrific injury. Give the lad a chance he is class and will come good.
Nice comment DJ- completely agree.
The biggest problem by far is the expectations we have on Ramsey; both fans and players. We expect him to play like Arteta, which of course, is currently impossible.
Ramsey should find his own style of play, and everyone else on the pitch should adjust themselves to it. It’s silly to assume and expect anybody, let alone a young player, to effectively replace a pivotal player without adjustments made to the overall team’s style of play.
Well said! I actually think people put far too much pressure on Ramsey, Ox and players we have lined up for the future like Ryo. THey are all still very young both in age and experience. It’s gonna take time and they’ll make mistakes but in the end they’ll all be fantastic players for us, but we can’t expect weekly performances that are perfect from them.
Right now Ramsey is forcing it and trying too hard because of the criticism he’s received recently. If he can just relax and play the game he’s class.
if there were ever a time a player needed a chance to prove his critics wrong, this would just about be it! Ramsey, we need you to step up and help secure 3rd for us lad!
Scary to think we only signed him very late on last day and the bloke had to take a pay cut to join. We would have been In so much shit without him it’s not even with thinking about.
No one else in the current midfield is near his class with the exception of thomas
just hope they can hold it together for the next few remaining games.
Somebody get that devilishly handsome MF-er a raise next season!
If diaby is fit enough let him start a game . Yes there is a risk of injury by playing him but with only four games left give him the starting place . I am fine with ramsey starting as well he might have his best game of the season on saturday who know.
But where the hell is our coq???
What to say?, what to say?.
Oh right, his name says it all.
Aaron ‘insert goal here’ ramsey. Bring on diaby.
You mean your name says it all
Cuntiverse baby!!
Join me, you know you want to.
It’s a disaster.
He’s the only midfielder capable of reading the game and withouth him, as we saw against Wigan, we’re a bunch of individuals.
I fear we’ll end up like last season, from 3rd to scraping for 4th in the last game of the season with an eye on Sp*rs/Newcastle results and their goal difference.
Agreed about the first part. Shudder to think about your prediction, though.
I can’t say Ramsey inspires any confidence for saturday’s game, but as was said earlier, he played in the reverse fixture…. That didn’t turn out too bad
and now fucking tx box office been change and it doesnt worh arggrrrrrgh
Thank fuck koscielny is back. But jesus id rather see diaby or ozyakup start instead of ramsey. He has looked lost of late. However i do hope he can prove us all wrong…
I’d be happy with the Ramsey who played vs Wolves or even Wigan . i didn’t see what he did wrong
Blind then?
Arteta’s setback is not a blessing in any way.
For the team at least.
In the education of some players (as AW put it recently) maybe. For the team HELL NO
No one thinks it’s a blessing ffs.
The blessing post was meant to be a reply for “Jomo
APRIL 19, 2012 AT 9:14 AM”
It was like watching Barca play Stoke yesterday – long balls and all!
Hoping it’ll be a more open game at the Emirates.
And Stoke won…
i think Ramsey himself knows that if he plays really bad, he will get stick from the fans so im sure he’ll do what the manager asks him to do. He’ll want to get the job done. Let’s keep the faith. It is also his chance to challenge for a place now that Arteta is out.
COYG
Honestly, a situation like this seems like piling even more pressure on top of a guy who’s still struggling. I’m going to have a hard time watching. So uncomfortable.
Good result for us last night. Defo didn’t wanted the Chavs smashed outta sight last night so they’ve got something to focus on next week (when I hope they get smashed outta sight).
Now, Arteta. Easily one of our players of the season and a huge miss. He’s been quality from day one. Neat and tidy and kept everything moving.
So obviously not good news in any way, but still confident we’ve enough to get us over the line to 3rd. I hope.
Just read the main blog on Arseblog. As much as i agree with most of it, i really hope Rambo finds his good boots again and helps out in the last games. And stops mr Arseblogger from getting at everyone on the team. Mainly it’s always song but now everyone is getting a mention. When people mention that Rambo had a bad game it’s not the end of the world but it’s got blogs nuts defending him. Say he had a bad game, then blogger reminds you of the bad attempted through balls by song. Mention he should have passed… Read more »
You must be reading a different Arseblog to me mate. Blogs is rarely anything other than constructive and fair in any criticism, and I think the main point he’s made today is how over the top the criticism has been towards Ramsey.
So we weren’t losing before Ramsey came on against Wigan? And vermalen didn’t make two massive defensive blunders verses QPR? To make a deal out of someone trying to make a clear and fair assessment of a game seems a bit much tbh. Blogs is pointing out that the team hasn’t always been perfect and that the critism ramsey gets is blinkered. Song, as good as he is becoming always believes his own press after a good run. That’s ok, because he can shake that off as he gets older, but he is making daft hero balls atm and could… Read more »
Point noted.
I wasn’t blaming ramsey for the wigan loss though(how could i? I even missed it). Nor did i defend TV5.
Was only saying every player should be open to criticism if it’s due. And i never said i didn’t enjoy the live blog. I’ve always followed Arseblog from it’s first years and i am always a fan. I only thought blogs was defending rambo (and rightly so) but i felt he’s tried to cover some criticism some times.
I think blogs was just defending him against some over the top abuse he and the rest of us have seen towards Rambo, he still critisized his lack of form so its not biased. I totally agree with blogs’s perspective; its completely fucked how some cunts (or Fatcunts) on here have been abusing rambo this year, yes he’s screwed up too many shots and has looked off a few times, but looking at it objectively, he hasn’t been terrible by any means so people that have so much to say about him are just haters and if its not ramsey… Read more »
Big loss missing Arteta, didn’t expect him to come in and do so well this season, hopefully the injury doesn’t end up too bad like our other ankle injuries as of late, could end up disjointing his pre season… After reading some of the comments, wish people would lay off Ramsey…seriously, first Arshavin (going by the way he gets treated by some fans here, not performances!) now Rambo and for what? You’d prefer The Ox to play? OK he’s had a few good games and is an amazing talent, but if you consider the circumstances (AC with nothing to lose… Read more »
This is a massive blow. We’ve all seen just how useless Ramsey has been recently; this could really make the difference between whether we get fourth or not. I would like to see Wenger have the balls to gamble and play the Ox in that position – it just might pay off. The one good thing about the Chelsea game is that having played the full 90 minutes yesterday, Drogba, Lampard, Cole and Terry will all have tired legs. And with the return in Barcelona in Tuesday, Di Mateo might rest a few players. But Saturday’s game is now absolutely… Read more »
Get your excuses in early the goners can sense 6th place is your destiny !!!! Drogba may spend as much time roling around as Sagna but when he get’s a chance .., pop, bang, lovely, Szczesny no chance !!
You are a Moron.
Cheers… You are a Berk !!
Your games against Barca will make for a good excuse when Chelsea get destroyed on Saturday before getting destroyed again on Tuesday.
Fuck off chav cunt
Come on ladies let’s not get nasty!! Massive game for both teams which could define top 4… You lose & teams all over you… We lose & have to win Champ’s League to get back in.. Huge game … But we’ll win !!! See & RVP already been for contract talks with Barca’ !!!
You sound like a child. Nonetheless I give everyone permission to abuse this wanker. Only because its obvious his parents aren’t gonna give him a reality check so this is probably as good a place as any
The ramsey lovers don’t really get it. Nobody criticised ramsey for the lost against wigan.wot we are saying is the lad is consistently bad.win or lose.he was atrocious against man city and he was seriously flogged even though we won the match.what we question is his status as a first eleven player.and saying everybody was bad against wigan is blatant dishonesty to excuse ramsey’s poor form.we outplayed wigan.fact.tr7 was immense.fact.its just like saying barca was poor last night because they lost to chelsea.lie.
I agree. Ramsey needs to EARN his spot back as a starter. Haven’t seen him do it yet.
Really dislike people who say ‘fact’ followed by their subjective opinion thats really not a fact. I could say- ‘Fact. You have no clue.’ but thats really just my opinion, and its a little harsh since I do agree on a few things you said. Still it sounds a bit pretentious throwing out facts like that.
Hallooo!, this is arseblog not chelshit blog. So fuck off, thankyou!.
Frankly I would like Coquelin to start in his holding midfielder place rather than Ramsey on Saturday. Is he fit?
I don’t think he is, I remember hearing a few weeks ago that he is “a few weeks away..” didn’t get a run out in the friendly against the Oman Olympic team, so I guess he’s not 100% yet..
Ramsey?….I support him because he is Arsenal, but I have seen thousands of matches and hundreds of great players and he ain’t one of ’em.
I think we all know what to say at a time like this….
RAMBOOOOOOO!!!!!
I’ve read the Gunnerblog post that Blogs linked to & apparently some “fans” have been sending Ramsey death threats through twitter. Fucking ridiculous
I’m assuming whoever gave that thumbs down thinks its acceptable to send our players death threats?
We’ll miss him alright, all I hope is for his absence not to affect the team so much. Because he brings some kind of stability to the team while playing.
And as for Ramsey let’s just hope he does well and give us something to thank him for.
Am I right in thinking that if the chavs win the champions league, 4th place doesn’t get in ?
Yes. So as long as we finish fourth we will qualify.
Correct. If they win it then 4th will be pushed into the Europa League.
All the more reason for a no-nonsense game on Saturday.
On a side note though, would be one of the funnier things this season if Chelski do win it AND Sp*rs finish Fourth… although, would it be worth having to watch Chelski lift the trophy just to laugh at Sp*rs? Hmm…
Nah mate don’t think i could stomach that. Would settle for the chavs getting stuffed next week and newcastle sneaking 4th place. Much as i hate that cunt Pardew it would shut them cunts up the road up for good.
Rosicky is perfectly capable of playing the pivot role, which leaves the attacking role for the Ox.
Simples.
Don’t think he’s ‘perfectly capable’ to play there at all, it would be a waste of his current form to play him deeper. Ramsey is better suited and we really need him to improve his form otherwise we’ll be fucked out of 3rd and 4th place, with arteta done for, rambo is perfectly placed to step-up and rescue the team. Otherwise it will be a failure for him and and to an even greater extent, Arsenal
I think it could be a good platform for Ramsey to re-build his confidence, playing deeper with Song, instead of as the advanced midfielder where one needs to make things happen. Ramsey’s work-rate might suit the deeper role.
Harsh saying every Arsenal player played like they’d just got out of bed. Rosicky played brilliantly. The rest… yeah.
Rambo needs to seize the moment, but he has the mental fortitude and footballing capability to do just that. The fans need to help him though. He’s quality, he just needs to remember it himself, and we have to be the ones reminding him, not the ones slagging him off. We’re relying on you Rambo; show us what you can do!
COYG!
Ramsey can do it. He’s ones of the hardest workers in the premiership he just needs to keep putting himself in glorious opportunities and hell pull thru it.
This is awful news. He is so key to us. Ramsey doesn’t cut it in that role
I would think that rosicky dropping deeper is the best thing, then the ox, benayoun or Ramsey behind vanPersie. Less risk in that position. Someone needs to remind song that he literally is holding and covering the rest of the season.
Another thought. With yossi out too, what about santos in front of Gibbs?