Mikel Arteta won’t feature for the Gunners until January after suffering a small setback in his rehabilitation from the calf problem that has repeatedly bugged him this season.
The Spaniard was last seen in action against Borussia Dortmund at the tail end of November and had originally been ruled out for around three weeks.
It now appears the 32-year-old will miss the rest of the Christmas schedule with Wenger revealing ahead of the Boxing Day clash with QPR, “He’s progressing well. He had a little set back and will not play before January.”
Three times this season Arteta has endured calf problems that have restricted him to just 11 starts.
In more positive news it sounds as though Aaron Ramsey could be available for the trip to Southampton on New Year’s Day while long-term absentee Mesut Ozil is also just a matter of days away from a return.
“Ozil will be back at the beginning of January. He works very hard and is very focused,” confirmed Wenger.
So excited about the return of Ozil but we desperately miss Arteta…..
I honestly think Arteta is in our top three most important players simply because Flamini is so completely incompetent
If there’s no midfield signing in Jan (and are we really expecting one?) he really needs to stay fit
Dont know why so many thumbs down your bang on Flamini is terrible.. all he does is bark orders at everyone and forgets to do his own duties…
Well he’s not the best, wouldn’t say he is awful. Quite hard for him to patrol the whole midfield when all his midfield colleagues have abandoned him pushing very high up and his defensive colleagues have abandoned him by dropping deep leaving only flamini to cover about 1600sq metres. I don’t think Arteta would have feared any better.
Arteta being our top 3 most important player is a shame with a club at this level, he wouldn’t START as a DM in this league and if he claims flamini is worse…God help us…
It’s quite Simple really. The thumbs down are because a lot of folk are tired of reading comments tearing into every member of the club for anything and everything on every column.
I’m surprised you don’t get that. Or maybe you do.
little unfair on flamini, yes he’s had some wayward games this season but i thought recently he’s been focused & passing excellently. against liverpool he was over-ran simply because 3 liverpool players were allowed to form triangles around him. he needed support, it wasn’t there.
“Focus hard Ozil San”
‘Mr Miyagi, circa 1989’
Made my week… AWESOME!!
Arteta is important but his time is coming to an end. His legs have gone. Desperately, need to look for someone younger and more athletic. Walcott is a strange case. Don’t understand why he isn’t back yet. Ramsey, goes missing during our toughest time. Sad situation really!! God help.
Merry Christmas and a very happy new year to all gooners!!
think that’s a bit harsh on ramsey tbh. but merry christmas to you too.
32 and legs gone? Pirlo, Lampard, Gerrad et al are playing with crutches then.
Not to mention Giggs who played on the wings with those 38 year old legs.
Really? you’re comparing arteta and those legends whichever club they may play for and we know how gerrard struggles in that shielding role
Arteta is an underrated yet very brilliant player that has had to adapt his game to help the team. Arsenal generally play better wirh Arteta in the side. Legend or not, it is rather very simplistic to claim that his legs are gone at 32.
It’s true he is getting slower by the year and probably shouldn’t be our 1st choice DM, but he certainty isn’t finished, he is very under rated as part of this team and it’s only when he isn’t in the side that you realize how much better we are with him in the team. I think we need a younger version of Arteta, wins the ball back rather well and is the transition man from Defence to Midfield
Better? yea cause he doesn’t have any competition in that position. Look I’m not a fan of arteta for the role in which he has been asked to play, he would be an okay backup for a true CM role. We were exposed second half of last season because Ramsey got injured which exposed Arteta. He consistently played really poorly in all of those “big” defeats because he simply couldn’t contain the opposition’s mids.
In age they are older and I love arteta but sadly not in ability. Lampard is a class apart.
“His legs have gone.”
“FULL HOUSE”
So are we finally going to see “The’o’Zil”? 😉
…
#COYG!
#COYsanta! Make it happen…
#FuckTheInjuryGodz! In thier fucking face…
Arteta though 🙁
So basically none of them will return until January…
What you mean to say is, “They’ll return just in time for January.”
LANS. No need to buy.
Happy with the news. Looking forward to January already where most players will be back and Wenger will be finally buying a CH and DM.
I’ll belive it when I see it. Our injury record this year is staggering even by our own standards.
So, any excitement about returning players is offset by the worries about losing existing players…e.g.Ox 🙁
Morning all, can’t wait to see them all back hope Ozil comes back with a bang soon better than ever I think we will all be very happy
Guys come back please! We have 5 points to claw back ( I am backing us for third), FA cup to defend and a ” favourite” tag in the CL to live up to.
We need all of you back.
Arsene; do what you’ve got to do in January and never never ever put us in that situation again. Thanks.
Merry Christmas and a very fruitful and fun- filled new year to all of you.
I know Arsene Wenger is human. He makes mistakes. Some of thme look like they are as a result of his stubbornness. But I really would love to see what happens when he plays his dream first eleven. Chelski seem to have benefited from it, and the moment they lost Matic in the midfield, they lost to Newcastle. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but I really believe if we had every of our lads at our disposal, we would be up there with the chavs. Which is why I find some of the criticism against the coach unfair. He… Read more »
I only blame him for Kos, because even in the pre season wenger knew about his tendinitis, and didn’t buy cover for him, i praise him for vermaelen sell and getting back 16mil for him and he didn’t play a game this season and is out for whole season, the other injuries were very unlucky like debuchy, giroud, walcott, ozil, even wilshere with that bad tackle against him. but I agree with you if we have had a full team i’m sure that we would be up there with chelsea fighting, but the problem is unlucky injuries or not we… Read more »
buys some cover for kos in January but in the long haul we need top quality CB someone like hummels or varane to replace Per, maybe wenger will try to buy in the summer top quality CB, Per is descent but we all know that he can only play good with kos, covering for him with speed and tackles and he is almost 31 years old, imagine some beast CB like Kos partner him in center all season, i hope i will see that next season along quality DM, with schneiderlin or lars bender that would be a monster defence… Read more »
I think you have to be honest, even with Kos in the defence we would still be conceding that liverpool equalizer… and countless other fast break goals simply because the defensive structure and system of the team is naive. There has been no improvement in our defensive side of the game for many many years now. Last season was an anomaly because of Ramsey’s form, he was great scoring goals but I think his defensive box to box work is massively underrated and look where we are now since he moved away from that side of his game this season.
agree. we were much better last season with a more traditional 4231. this 4141 is bullshit, especially with the players we have available, and liverpool proved it over the weekend. hopefully that’s put an end to wenger’s experiment…but i doubt it.
But we still got hammered in the big games. So with the same defenders (apart from Debuchy, but he’s not much of an upgrade on Sagna) and the same holding midfielders and the same coach with an even bolder approach this season compared to last. I don’t see there being any difference to our results if Kos is back or not. It didn’t make a difference last year so why would it this year?
I’ll put most of the blame on Wenger. Injury problems has always been a challenge, knowing this, the gaffer should have bought enough cover for all position in summer, and not try to be cute with all these makeshift arrangements. Better to have disgruntled players for lack of playtime (if there are no injuries) than to lack adequate cover in times like this. Imagine if we had bought fabregas, we will not be having much challenge now in the middle, then we can worry later about the lesser problem of who plays when all are fit. Same for the defensive… Read more »
Even if AW has a full squad the jury is still out. What happened at Anfield he said was as a result of a mental injury suffered last season. You can recover from physical injuries better than mental all day long. And AW should know this. A humiliation does no good to a team. Everyone can take defeat. Even fans. But humiliation, against a team like Liverpool, was AW showing his stubborn side. All he had to do was change things at 2-0 down and have the team play like they did last Sunday to stop the counter attacks. But… Read more »
Merry Chrismas and a prosperous new year. 2015 will be better for all gooners. To all players on the injury list, come back strong and make us all happy next year.
When I was the same age as Arteta I suddenly started pulling calf muscles whilst playing squash. This happened after playing in the game for around 25 minutes of play. I was completely warmed up so that wasn’t the problem. I had a very good psysio and she diagnosed a back problem and the way I walked and ran. Sorted out the back, walking and running problem and calf problem stopped. I am not saying that they haven’t checked this but calf muscles and hamstrings can sometimes have underlying problems. Our injuries have got to the stage where I am… Read more »
Its only when they are gone that we realise how good they were..
Giroud and Arteta.
Without Arteta there is no tactical leader on the pitch. we dont know how to deal with change when he isnt there. I hope he is back soon and when we do replace him i hope the player is just as smart.
Comment:Carzola’s been great in that Ozil role..
Last few games he has been great. Before that not so great!
And his name is Cazorla, not Carzola.
No Diaby update? 3 weeks??
You should know by now that he is only 2-3 weeks away from being 2-3 weeks away
I heard a rumour (might even have been on here somewhere) that he’s back in training and had played for the U21s. Does anyone know if there’s any truth to that?
I believe that is confirmed. Happened a couple of weeks ago, but then apparently he picked up an injury in training…
Another good Gary Neville analysis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNoqesG3x2I
I really agree with this… when you consider how we tried earlier in the season to fit in ozil, Ramsey, Arteta, wilshere Cazorla etc into the same formation earlier in the season by sacrifising Ozils best posistion.. it shows how the balance of the team is so far off… we have a ridiculous amount of number 10s…. just buy a DM and a CB that we have been waiting for in the last 9 years…
If Ozil was performing as expected, Wenger would have kept him in the center. The coach felt other players could bring different but more useful contribution in the middle. No coaches ever shifted Xavi to the wing to gain whatever in the middle. Wenger did not want to bench Ozil because of the psychological effect on the player. I am saying this because Arsenal is full of wingers who are better than Ozil in the wide positions. Hope we get same Ozil Real had for the remainder of the season but do not tell me we have had a good… Read more »
We have had a good Özil to date (best passer, best creator last season, best creator before injury). The change of tactics (putting Wilshere in the middle) put Arsenal down this season.
People need to get over this whole ‘Ozil not the same player as he was at Madrid’ in case you haven’t noticed we play a very very very different game to Madrid, as well as not having a Ronaldo in the team. Ozil (as well as Alexis) has gone from being one of the bunch to being the guy we look to for something special and if you ask me he has done a damn good job since he joined us. I really don’t think it’s a coincidence that our best season in years and first trophy came in his… Read more »
couldn’t agree more. how did ramsey perform when wenger forced him to play wide? he was being booed off the field ffs. now wenger pushes ozil wide and people are complaining that he isn’t performing. no shit. play him as a number 10 and we’re first in the prem last season. play him wide in a stupid 4141 to accommodate wilshere and we’re mid table. it’s not a coincidence folks. neville’s piece on the game against liverpool was spot on. rodgers completely out managed wenger in that game. it’s so obvious why this 4141 doesn’t work and makes flamini look… Read more »
Wenger will never learn. He runs players into the ground. This will be artetas career from now on, back 5 games pull calf out 3 weeks back 3 games pull other calf out 3 weeks back injuries lower back……
I cant see how Ozil is going to make a big deal of difference we seem to score goals its the other end that’s the problem… Pers like a frightened kitten scared to head the ball… what annoys me about Per is hes leaving us in the deep end.. creating unnecessary pressure for his team mates and Manager… hes our captain the tallest player on the pitch if he just defended that corner the end of the liverpool game we would of won.. hes payed enough and would of taken a lot of pressure off the club…
Because he rarely loses the ball and is always available for a pass. Him and Arteta are very important for us in possession.
We’ve got at least four big players back in the next couple of weeks. Add a couple of new signings in January and it could be an exciting second half of the season. Obviously by that I mean we’ve got a chance of scraping fourth…. Again.
A good manager would be looking into buying a holding midfielder and central defender, but that’s just Wenger, Arteta has a history of injuries right from his days at Everton and it isn’t going to get better at his age.
Think it’s time we start shopping for a long term arteta replacement. We overplayed him last season and he’s paying for it now.
Does it really even matter anymore ? we are way off the pace and will finish 4th again. im just fed up of watching us bottle it against the big teams. we are 15 points behind chelsea at the midway point!!! this is just not acceptable. why didnt we buy fabregas ? he s topping the assists chart at the moment why oh why didnt we buy another cb ? its annoying listening to the players repeatedly saying how they cant afford to make mistakes at the back anymore after every game. pls just shut up and get on with… Read more »
n article on the internet about Arsenal’s injury situation. According to the article research has shown that in 10 of the last 11 campaigns arsenal had more injuries than any other team. From 2003 to 2014 we have actually had 100 more injuries than Chelsea and that is significant injuries.we actually had three hundred and twelve significant injuries which led to plays be out for 10 days or more. Ridiculous!I would love to know why this keeps happening is it just bad luck curse or poor training. no matter what challenge for the BPL championship we have to stay more… Read more »
There have been far too many injuries over too long a period to put it down to bad luck or coincidence. Which means someone is fucking up somewhere, in a big way!
buy a dm and centre back in january or leave Wenger
I believe fans have been too tough on Mertesacker. With Koscielny out that has been where the problem has been. Mertesacker and Koscielny make a perfect pair. Koscielny’s pace and mobility is a perfect complement to Mertesacker’s positioning ability. Merterscielny is more that just two people playing together. When playing together they are a pleasure to watch and they strengthen our defense immensely. Until Kos comes back and we get our Godzilla Merterscielny, we will continue to struggle defensively. Let’s just hope Koz comes back soon and stays healthy for the rest of the year. We need our monster put… Read more »
Why are you making excuses for Mertersacker? So, you’re saying because Kos was not playing, that’s the reason why Mert cowered like a wimp instead of jumping towards the ball?
when is it a good thing to have a center back that’s only good in his position when he’s paired with one other specific individual? if we can only count on per to deliver when kos is by his side then get rid of him. we need a center back that doesn’t need a crutch.
Flying into London on Christmas Day from the U.S. with members of my family. Finally going to get an opportunity to see Arsenal play live on the 26th. Have only had the pleasure to visit the Emirates on vacation as a tour. Cannot wait till game day when I can finally share the thrill of watching Arsenal with 60,000 other Gooners. I am 66 and recently retired and going to this Arsenal game I feel like a little kid on the first day of experiencing Christmas. they may break my heart at times but I will love them till I… Read more »
Hope you have an unfuhgetable experience.
Thank you. Fuhgetaboudit! Its going to be incredible!
You are going to love it. I went on my “trip of a lifetime” in 2009 and enjoyed it so much I’ve now gone back every year since. Try to do the legend’s stadium tour, don’t miss spending an hour or so in the Armoury, and make sure you get to the Tollington a couple of hours before the match (for drinks AND food – the kitchen there is amazing, and very reasonably priced). All of that is old hat to the locals, but it’s gold for us out-of-towners. At the Tollington you’ll probably meet a lot of other travelling… Read more »
Thanks so much. Will definitely stop at the Tollington before game.
Arteta’s one of the best DM’s in the league, but he’s not given the credit others are because he’s more of a pickpocket than a destroyer, savvy in his positioning, deft in the tackle rather than violent, but oh so effective. And of course he’s an outstanding passer of the ball, finding outlets to start counters. I don’t expect him to play 50 games a year, but he’s got to be more fit than he is for us to rely upon him. As for Flamini, he’s not Arteta’s quality but he unfortunately is getting saddled with blame that should be… Read more »
Does this mean a team will soon be afflicted by “Theozilexis” – a very potent biological combination that attacks human defences?
The only known prevention of this condition is patented by Dr. Shad
It may be xmas but the xmas jokes will be the same Zero transfers in January usual blah blah exscuses, but being xmas we will get to see the wizard the wonderful of OZ……IL…….
Does anyone know if the tube is running from Cockfosters to Finsbury on the 26th?
If we only sign one player in January I would hope for Matija Nastasic. He’s the right age (21), has PL, CL and International experience. The only thing wrong would be his inflated rice tag (Est. £10 mil by the media) and his injury record for his age is Wilsheresque.
My Christmas wish is for Wenger and board to finally bully other teams for a centerback and Southampton for Schneiderlin.
“He’s progressing well. He had a little set back and will not play before January.”
Let’s rephrase that shall we? “He’s progressing well by having a little setback”
A player who’s supposed to be back in December is now returning in January, and you call that progress? That’s something only Wenger could say.
People will always complain. Talk of Arteta being overplayed, Özil played out of position, lack of a “commanding DM”, why is Sanogo getting game time, Campbell isn’t playing enough, lack of rotation, players picking up too many injuries… There are valid points in some of these, just as a some are overboard. But I honestly don’t think negativity helps anyone. Not the fans, not the player, and definitely not the manager. The way I see it, AW can’t be happy about being this far off the pace in the league. And I like to think that he, as well as… Read more »