Mikel Arteta has revealed he’s hoping to be back in time to face Manchester City after the international break.
The Spanish midfielder twisted his ankle in last week’s Champions League qualifier against Besiktas, and after some worry that the damage might have been quite serious, he’s now targeting a return against the title holders on September 13th.
In his programme notes for tonight’s second-leg against the Turkish side, the captain said, “They thought I had quite big sprain at the time but the ankle is reacting well and I’ll do my best to be back as soon as possible.
“The medical team were talking about three weeks out when I picked up the problem, but hopefully I can shorten that. It depends on how the ankle reacts when I load it with my body weight, but let’s see.
“If I can come back earlier then I will, but I hope to be back for the Man City game and I’ll do everything I can to be there.”
And with such a crunch game tonight, Arteta says it’s difficult to have to watch on from the sidelines.
“I have to say I’m not a very good spectator. I’ll be in the changing room before the game tonight to say a few words to the team.
“I am certain they’re all ready for what will be a big challenge but we have to be confident. Champions League qualification is massive for us.”
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The match day programme is available digitally for iPad and iPhone – more details here.
Some good news at the moment at least.
Flamini is a bit too gung ho for my liking.
Besides, we need someone who can score penalties confidently (when we do get awarded them of course).
After thorough investigation, i have determined that this is the striker we might just end up signing albeit on loan. 1. He is world class 2. His employers treat players like shit. (think their club president might have gone through a traumatizing childhood hence feeds off mistreating others) 3. He just signed a new bumber deal at his club therefore ruling out any sort of permanent deal. 4. His employers were happy for him to lead the line again this season but have been concerned by his “poor’ early season form 5. His employers always get what they want to… Read more »
Suggest fact that his club have just sold Di Maria for twice his value will make any further sales unnecessary from that club.
Can you please tell me more about his bumber deal?
Most contract extensions are not signed on the same terms….usually involves either a pay cut or increase. so I’m pretty sure its a bumber deal for Benz u arse…
10 poos
I must say, I don’t believe I’ve ever agreed with any of your comments heroldgoon, but in this case, I definitely wouldn’t put it past Real to swoop for Falcao and ship Benzema. If they are seriously interested in Falcao that is. I don’t know why people think just because Benzema signed a contract recently that he is not subject to sale. We are talking about Real Madrid. Rarely do they ever do the prudent thing. Plus signing that new deal would surely have added $$ to his price tag should they decide to sell him, so it’s not entirely… Read more »
Who is going to take a penalty tonight, not Ozil unless he’s changed his style.
I wish we could replace this slow dud! Up the arse
Comment + username = irony
Best Arsenal related news ive heard since yesterday with Afobe getting 2. Totally beats the speculation that Zigic might sign for us…
Quality player, model professional who takes a lot of unfair critism.
He’s not the problem, the problem is a lack of pace and power that we often put alongside him in midfield.
I agree Arteta shouldn’t receive the criticism, he’s not a natural defensive player, yet still does a good job for us. The problem is although he does a good job it’s just against the best sides our midfield get exposed for lacking that dominant player in the middle. I just hope Wenger now doesn’t think we don’t need to sign a dominant midfielder, yet I just cannot see it maybe Rabiot who looks a fine prospect but he’s not exactly the player of which we desperately need right now. I don’t know why we’ve left it so late to replace… Read more »
Hopefully we not rushing his return…
Forsythe knows 😉
el-capitan!!!!!!!
As much as it is not ideal or what anyone wants I think this will be our business over the next week.
Podolski stay
Alex song in (put your pitchforks away). He is a cdm and can play cb and has premier league experience. Barca want to get rid and were desperate.
The other I think will be loic remy.
Discuss!
wenger rarely signs gone players, especially if he’s gonna have to pay for them. remy not good enough, might as well give Campbell a chance at CF instead.
I think Song is being given away on a free – got to wonder why – Playing him as CB seems a little weak, he’s hardly proven in that position. He’s also got a bit of the Tiote about him, we’ve already got a yellow card man in Flamini, I’m not sure we need another. I’m not entirely sure why Remy’s name keeps popping up, he’s hardly set the world alight in his time in the premiership. Happy to give Campbell a run at it, let the Ox and Alexis join in from wide, bring Poldi on in the last… Read more »
Yeah, I don’t get the skepticism about Campbell as a center forward – or Alexis for that matter. They’ve both demonstrated conclusively playing for their respective national teams that they can play the position quite well, and yet all I hear in the media and around here is that they’re untested in the middle and it represents a huge gamble and ZOMG!!1! Sanchez did not set Everton on fire playing through the middle last week. Tangent: the lineup for that Everton game was less than ideal. Instead it could have been: Sanchez Rosicky – Ozil – Ox Flamini – Ramsey… Read more »
Podolski will only stay if we don’t get our targets. Alex Song will only be signed on a season long loan if we don’t land our target at DM. We won’t sign Remy because if AW fancied him he would have signed him earlier in the summer (or even earlier in his career, he’s been linked to us for years). I’d much prefer Cerci or Welbeck. Before you downvote, let me explain. It’s clear that the way we play requires a ST with good passing ability and link up play who can pull back and let the wingers/midfielders overlap him.… Read more »
Cerci is really good, and I would also be delighted to take Welbeck, he’d improve with us and then it’d be something else to sneer at ManU about.
There is simply no chance on Song coming in. Arsene never shed a tear when he left because the guy was a “DM” that never cared to play “DM”. He wanted to push up field and play the Hollywood pass every time. A DM needs to stay back, read the game, break up play, and distribute effectively to the more attacking options. You might recall one of Song’s former coaches publicly stating that he is not a defender. Just because he has the qualities to be a “DM” doesn’t make him a DM. That position takes a large amount of… Read more »
why are we ‘desperate’? we’re minted and have time left and need to first conclude champions league business.
hahaha
Come on captain, you’ve been here long enough to hear the medical team say the words “Three weeks ”
quick recovery
Its difficult to get Flamini through 10 games without him getting suspended for an accumulation of yellow cards or an outright red.
The sooner the captain is back, the better (but I state the obvious).
All Hail Shad
A touch off topic but is there any news on Diaby? He had a full pre season and i dont think he has been in any squads since the season started.
he did the ice challenge and got injured for 6 weeks.
On the subject of diaby, does anybody remember when he played as a 2nd striker next to carlos vela and scored 2 against fenerbace? What are the odds of him being our ‘creative’ striking replacement?
That would be the funniest thing i will have ever seen in an Arsenal game….
Good news! We need as many fit players as possible.
In unrelated news, I had a dream that Poldi started up front today and scored a hat trick in a comfortable win, solving all our striking problems in one swoop. A more realistic scenario is that we’ll start with Sanogo up front, who’ll run around and do his Gervinho routine, in a match that’ll give most of us heart problems because of a dozen missed chances.
At any rate, as long as we go through it’s all good. That’s the important thing today.
Yessssssssss!!!™ this will help shift all focus towards finding another striker and not just any striker since the money will not be split looking for a DM. I fully expect a £50M striker arrive.
told ya this fucking stars have aligned.
must be why the bbc is running this…
Arsenal unlikely to sign new striker following Olivier Giroud injury
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/28953337
That picture cracks me up haha
some of my leg fell off boss !!
Glad Arteta isn’t out for too long. Despite the load of unfair abuse he seems to recieve from every other supporter, he really is integral to the way Arsenal play.Flamini’s last two appearances has certainly shown that.
I propose a new song fellow Gooners:
To the beat of “Shots” by Lil Jon –
Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad, Shad… Everybody… Shad, Shad… and so on.
Yes, I think it is time for me to leave now.
Arteta is a really great captain, isn’t he? just reading this article with his comments increases my optimism.
Btw is this Zigic any good ? Heard he is a free agent so he cant be Arsenal material
He scored against us in the Capital One Cup final debacle of 2011, then plummeted from view after pissing off the Birmingham manager with his lack of application (and talent). He is essentially a poor man’s Peter Crouch, and that is saying something. I’d most likely say this is tabloid speculation of the laziest and stupidest order, for if we ended up with Zigic I’d have to seriously question the sanity and judgement of the club’s management.
Well good news the captain will be back horrah!horrah!
Diaby was in the training video on the Arsenal site. What that means…?
On his day, Diaby is a monster. If he plays and qualfies us for Cl and goes out injured for the rest of the season again, job done.
We simply need to win. It will affect any transfers from here on till end of window.
I’m fuckin brickin it over this CL game.. It’s 945pm in aus and I know if I’m going to be in any state to actually work tomorrow I need to sleep now.
4:45am kickoff 🙁
Lets get this done boys, it’s easy to be tired the next day if we’ve done well
COYG
Very nervous about the game. Might be a very tight affair. The second line behind the main striker is key. IMO Sanogo will likely lead because he adds the physical presence and has a bit more experience in the team in this position to Campbell. For fluency, some familiarity is key in the second line. I expect Alexis is best starting at RW, Ozil should continue to bed in but in Ramsey’s absence he should go in through the middle and Santi at LW (Chamberlain an option but we are likely to need a craftsman against a deeper lying defense… Read more »
Play Campbell give him a chance – Sanogo has been given a couple, plus Campbell has scored goals out on loan – even in the champions league!
Yeah not too many seem to be giving Campbell a chance. I think he is perfectly capable of leading the line like he did for Costa Rica. He won’t be that much less than Sanogo (Maybe Height) and certainly IMO a better option than Alexis. Alexis up top is a mistake. He is too small to enjoy benefits there plus more crucially it takes away his best attributes when operating wide for us in running at players and being mobile. If/when he drifts out of his CF spot as he will be liable to do, we have less presence in… Read more »
campbell should be given a chance
Pure class this guy is. Hope he isn’t rushed back too soon and followed by a never ending injury cycle.
Also, I can’t help but have this feeling that Wilshire is going to shine tonight. It seems the midfield with him and Ramsey just doesn’t quite fit yet. And when it’s just Ramsey, Ramsey shines. I suspect Wilshire shall do the same.
Arteta is gold standard. I’m not sure what those bleating about needing a new DM because he is too slow are drinking.
Arteta will need to be replace shortly but he is good till next summer and we have Flamini as back up + Chambers when we bring in a Cback.
That is plenty of cover. If a Rabiot is brought in at a low price (say 5m) for the near future, we are covered and committed. Thereby we will likely not be in the market for an Arteta replacement next summer and will go with Chambers, Flamini and Rabiot.
Anyone else think we should offer £17 million to United for Van Persie?
If we even buy a DM, we won’t spend big (like Carvalho price 22m ridiculous) It will take money and focus away for our top two priorities at the moment which is : 1) CBACK 2) STRIKER Most likely a Rabiot (5m) may come in for the future considering Flamini is covering Arteta and Chambers can be moved to DM cover as and when we seal in a proper Cback alternate. But if we need to add a Cback (and it may not be cheap) + a possible striker, where the F#ck are we going to find money for a… Read more »
Where have you been the last few years? 22mil for a player like Carvalho is a steal these days, also, we are rich these days. Factor in the player sales so far this season and we can easily afford a CB, DM and ST which is part of the reason why fans are getting restless due to the inactivity in regards to bringing players in for those vital positions
22m. You think we are then going to spend say 10m on a defender which is priority over DM and possibly 20-30m on a top striker?
5m is price for Rabiot.
Chambers (who is English with premium on price) is 16m tops.
Are you thinking right?
yeah.
Don’t see Carvalho as a defender. If he is a defender, he is still very expensive considering he is not a specialist.
If he can cover both DM and defender, he better be a very good defender first and foremost.
22m is a lot of money.
Wouldn’t it change everyone’s view if we did sign Cavani and Carvhalo (as well as replacing TV)? Interestingly, the bookies have us as hot favourites to sign both (at evens). I would always listen to the money men (bookies) more than pundits etc so you never know there coule be something in it. Come on Arsene you know it makes sense!
Link to SkyBet below…………
http://www.skybet.com/football/specials/transfer-specials?aff=9718&dcmp=ss_betlink_footab