It’s been confirmed by Arsenal that Theo Walcott’s ‘mysterious’ abdominal injury is more serious than initially thought and he’ll have to undergo surgery.
The problem, which kept the winger from playing against Stoke, will now keep him sidelined until after the next international break.
“Theo will be out for a few weeks,” Arsene Wenger told Arsenal.com
“He has developed some damage to his posterior abdominal wall. It’s not a hernia, but it’s a little structural problem in his abdomen.
“He will have the procedure in Germany on Wednesday and, because it’s so minor, we can begin his rehab immediately.
“We are pleased it’s being dealt with quickly and he shouldn’t miss too many Arsenal matches. But he will miss the forthcoming international matches with England.”
Already without Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla and Tomas Rosicky it looks as though rookie duo Serge Gnabry and Ryo Miyaichi stand a good chance of getting more game time in the next few games against West Brom (x2), Swansea and Napoli.
Speaking about Gnabry, who made his first Premier League start for the Gunners at the weekend, Wenger admitted the injury situation affords the young German a real chance to establish himself in the first team.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity for him,” Wenger told Arsenal Player. “He can play right or left or even behind the striker. He can even play as a striker. I believe against Stoke what I liked in his game is that he grew through the game, he became better and better.
“He has the quality to be creative because he can dribble, he can run with the ball, he can be a good passer and he is a great finisher,” said the manager.
“On that front, once the confidence level [rises] he will be alright. His physical qualities, his technical qualities are at the requested level.”
Gervinho would be really fucking handy right about now…
Gnabry > Gervinho.
Gervinho (+confidence) > Gnabry.
yeah but the parenthesis are pretty conditional. Whether you like it or not Gnabry’s gettin the chance, lets cheer him on!
Gervinho+confidence or rather Gervinho+half a brain would have realistically been a world beater. He had everything else to his game other than decision making.
In my opinion, it wasn’t lack of confidence that screwed Gervinho. It was his absurd dribblings, his missed sitters, his abysmal crosses. I may be harsh, but I think of him as one of the most ineffective wingers we ever had, and getting rid of him for a decent fee while he still wasn’t perceived deadwood by potential suitors was one of our best accomplishments this summer.
xanthias, if he really was as shit as you describe, then how the hell we got 7 million for him?? however good your negotiators may be, these football managers who work at the toip leavel in europen football, aren’t stupid… he had his confidence problems and other flaws, but wenger wasn’t stupid to pay 8 million for him in the first place and neither it was an accident or a fuckin’ awesome piece of negotiation that he got 7 million back… it just didn’t work out for him at arsenal due to a very bad combination of circumstances, mistakes and… Read more »
Gervinho + more talent + Messi dribbling > Gnabry.
Gnabry – (creative and coherent part of brain) + 7 years + forehead = Gervinho + confidence
This is getting absurd — Gervinho was a quality striker, who lost confidence after the ACN and didn’t get it back, didn’t really gel at Arsenal after that. We all wished him well when he moved on, rightly, and he didn’t deserve the spiteful comments some of the non-fans heaped on him. He’s the past now, Gnabry is the future — let’s just stop quarrelling!
If he was eligible to play for WBA maybe 😉
Gervinho isnt here coz he helped us getting Özil…
Gervinho goes to Roma – lamela joins the cunts – cunt goes to Real – Özil is a Gunner!!!:P
we’ve been over this
Get well soon Theo. Got a long season ahead.
We just lost our one real outlet. when miyaichi joined I heard he could run a great deal and very fast too! I hope he can still do that….
He also likes cones.
Get back soon Feo!
On another note, Gnabry looked pretty good against Stoke. My only real complaint is his lack of confidence (which I’m sure match time will give him), as when we had some great chances to counter he still tended to pass sideways or backwards.
I’ll definitely miss Theo a lot, but I’m really hoping that Gnabry and Ryo can take their chances here. If Fabianski can do it when Szczesny was out last season, there’s no reason these two can’t! Time for them to capitalize on their potential.
Wow i appears we are blighted on the injury front. You can never have enough backup. Keep Giroud in cotton wool and only let him out on Saturday afternoons. Nikki B time to start earning that fat cheque for a change.
Is frustrating because you just sensed he was on the cusp of banging in a brace. Ozil in/ Wally out for the fantasy team it is…
Injuries… injuries… and more injuries? Fvck! Fvck! Fvck!
you’d think they built the emirates on some ancient burial grounds or something, completely cursed.
the way Walcott’s been playing you might think it’s OK, but we’ve fuck all for cover
Injuries… injuries… and more injuries! Fvck! Fvck! Fvck!
I have this image of Wenger during press conference saying re Gnarby: “He can play right or left or even behind the striker. WOW, HE CAN EVEN PLAY AS A STRIKER, how did I not think of this before?!”
In other news, Rosicky could be back for Napoli match. Woho!
why do i have a sense that after the operation they’ll reveal that they found a small, heavily chewed plastic toy in Theo’s stomach…
those kinder surprises are tricky things
Fucking shit. Fucking utter bollocks! fuck this! why fucking us?????
[insert wild tant here]
This is a definite blow to the team, Theo really opens up the pitch for us and allows the midfield to drive forward with the ball. Gnabry looked impressive against Stoke, kept the ball well, drew fouls and linked up with the midfield but he never got in behind the defence, I hope Arsene has a word in his ear to make those runs that Theo does, he’s got great technique and good easily have a great impact if he does make the runs required… This is reminiscent of when we had all our full backs out, now we have… Read more »
We got the worlds greatest player on the wing, on the wing, nicklas……
Massive chance for Guh-nabry. It’s the kind of opportunity by which fledgling careers are shaped. Maybe more minutes for Ryo too, but the German looks the part on current showing.
A few stomach bug for Mertesacker,Ozil,Wilshere and now abdominal problem for Walcott. Weirdly injuries now affect Arsenal to compensate on a less than usual injury at 2012-2013 season.
Sagna looks like he’s been carved out of expensive wrought iron.
When confronted with kryptonite thrown at him in desperation by an opposition winger, Bacary Sagna simply chuckles in amusement saying “C’est ne pas probleme!”.
Are the matches going to be shown on Live Tv?
Random(ish) question – is it really pronounced guhnabry? I’d always assumed the g was silent
According to my German friend, the initial ‘G’ is “almost silent” — the surname would be spoken as just two syllables “Gnab-Ri”, not as three syllables “G-Nab-Ri”, and sounds much more like “Nabry” than most of the English commentators’ attempts to pronounce his name.
“gnaw”
Bad news for Theo who hopefully will get his season well and truly under way after the next boring batch of international fixtures, superb news for Ryo and Gnabry who look like getting some more first team minutes under their belt. Good luck to them and let’s hope they take their chance. UTA.
This injury will open the door of opportunity for the likes of Gnabry & Ryo.
A run of games for both these players will only enhance their reputations and confidence.
I hope they make the most of this golden chance, and give Arsene Wenger a selection headache when Walcott returns. COYG
now his haters will get to know how important he is to the squad….get well soon Theo…absolutely gutted he’s out..
Can’t say I’m devastated.
I hope both get a goal or an assist soon.
Why all the hate for Gervinho? we have had worse players staying on the books for money atleast Gervinho worked hard and gave it a go.
He was class at beating players, getting in good posistions but his decision making in the final third was always lacking it was a confidence issue im sure.
He tried. Someone above said he was our worst ever winger. Anybody remember Alan Skirton?
Ballbags!
I sure would be handy right now.
I’m sure there are parallels to successful seasons gone by here. Let’s hope the youngsters can step up and keep things moving until the big guns return!
Fucking injuries though, who’d av em eh!
It fucking rains!
Two weeks my ass.. See him in November or December…
I don’t rate him as highly as others but I wish him a speedy recovery
What has Ryo ever done since he joined?
Little to No goals even for the under 21’s, rarely features, always injured.
Gnabry on the other hand? Brilliant.
Gnabry> miyaichi
Should not play 1st 11 at all in COC, esp the CB pair, with our rubbish injury record Stomach bug or not, might be good timing to bench theo for performance reasons…skip the england international game too great Ryo loaned to holland and did well there 1st season; he played high school football before ffs…not robust enough physically need more muscles for the PL rigor but I think he’s some skills and pace; will see Gnarbry got to be more aggressive. If played on the RW, needs to get to byline and cross/ cut back..at least pull defenders out wide… Read more »
Walcott, you’re my captain in my fantasy league team, come back soon bro