Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Francis Coquelin will miss Saturday’s game with Leicester City due to the knee injury picked up in the defeat at Chelsea.
While the French midfielder is said to be improving and could return to training tomorrow he’s still not fit enough to anchor the Gunners midfield.
“He is progressing well, but he will not be available for Leicester,” Wenger told his weekly press conference.
“He has a scan today but the evolution is quite positive. He might start practice tomorrow. He has a little chance for Tuesday, and a bigger chance for Man United. It is very difficult to be definite today.”
It’ll be only the second time the 24-year-old hasn’t started a Premier League game since December.
The Coq’s absence opens the door for either Mikel Arteta or Mathieu Flamini to retain their place from Wednesday’s victory over Sp*rs.
Arsenal are also waiting on the outcome of Gabriel’s misconduct charge with the FA set to make a decision later this afternoon. Should the Brazilian receive a suspension he’ll also be unavailable tomorrow.
“After Tuesday night we have no new injuries,” clarified the boss. “We have an uncertainty about Gabriel as his case will come forward today and we will find out if he is suspended or not and overall that is the news we have.”
The Gunners know that a victory on Saturday will safeguard the legacy of the ‘Invincibles’ for another season with Claudio Ranieri’s side the Premier League’s only remaining unbeaten outfit.
Lol, the Invincible Leicester!
“The Gunners know that a victory on Saturday will safeguard the legacy of the ‘Invincibles’ for another season with Claudio Ranieri’s side the Premier League’s only remaining unbeaten outfit.”
We need a holiday like St Tott’s for when everyone else in the league has lost. Perhaps in honour of his fluffed penalty, Van Nisteltine’s Day…
Stupid phone, I meant to give you a thumbs up. Brilliant idea!
Excellent suggestion.
Love it.
great idea, but name it after Arsenal in some way 🙂
Invincifest? I mean it is obvious but straightforward…
Great idea, I agree…
I’ve been calling it invincibles day. Here is the list of days it has fallen on so far:
Year / Matchday / Date / Last unbeaten team
14/15 15 6 Dec Chelsea
13/14 7 5 Oct Everton
12/13 16 9 Dec Man C
11/12 15 12 Dec Man C
10/11 25 5 Feb Man Utd
09/10 7 26 Sep Chelsea
08/09 11 1 Nov Liverpool
07/08 16 9 Dec Arsenal (Liverpool: 15, 8 Dec)
06/07 10 28 Oct Aston Villa
05/06 12 6 Nov Chelsea
04/05 10 24 Oct Arsenal
I think I would prefer Flamini over Arteta for tomorrow, though I think Wenger will probably go the other way. Flamini is more of a holding player (though his goals the other night could suggest otherwise). We really need to be switched on tomorrow in order to beat Leicester. Sanchez and Walcott will hopefully be back on form.
Arteta is way slower and aggressive than Flamini in my opinion, but Arteta is also a commander in the midfield. Tough choice, glad it is wenger making it not me 🙂
I agree. Flamini is a more similar type of player to Coquelin and played well on Wednesday even aside from his goals. His confidence will be higher than it’s been for a while too.
I couldnt agree more.
Arteta is way too slow to come up against Leicester’s speedy attack.
I know Flamini aint quick but his positional sense is way better
There in lies the problem, neither Arteta nor Flamini are like for like replacement for Coq. Wenger has found a solution in the League Cup game by playing them both.
Will be interesting to see how he sets up tomorrow.
If he goes with Arteta I hope he puts Ramsey along side him and moves Santi forward with either him or Ozil on a wing. Ramsey’s engine and tackling complement Arteta best.
Actually I wonder if Ramsey might get a rest though. He’s the only runner that hasn’t.
He wasn’t there in the squad when we lost to Zagreb. So yeah he’s been rested. (a bit atleast)
Also since when has Ramsey needed rest. The dude is a machine.
COYG.
I would play Ramsey alongside Cazorla personally and play Ox on the right.
I would like Ramsey and Cazorla not to start for couple of games. Starts with Flamigoal and Arteta. Ozil, sanchez, Ox and Walcott.
Lets see how it goes.
I want flamini not because of his but he is just like #coq Ramsey can play with santi tomorrow #Ox then go wide.
Ramsey can’t play with Santi tomorrow mate, I think you meant instead of
Oh bolocks, forgot his suspension is over
they can play together. i want wenger to play them together.
they did once in preseason and it went ok. if cazorla played deep like pirlo, and ramsey did his box-to-box thing with a lot of tackles, i dont see why it cant work.
Playing Arteta alongside Cazorla gives the smiling Spaniard freedom to roam knowing the lego haired Spaniard is behind him. Flamster will leave the CB exposed as he likes getting forward.
Flamini keeps the ball High, and Arteta keeps the ball Low.. that a massive difference.
You mean like against dinamo zagreb??
flamini has high energy and great mobility. arteta doesn’t.
arteta can pick a pass, but i don’t think he has anything left in the tank.
look, he admitted he was not even sure that he would be capable of playing for this team. he’s barely good enough at this point, and we are a top club who cant afford to have barely-good-enoughs. we need excellent players that could get into any top 4 team.
Oh! Leicester in your city, we will rock you. #havefun.
Arteta is a better midfielder than Flamini. It is up to Arsene Wenger to decide who to play, what we need is a win, to know who will play is not our business, it is the duty of the coach.
Problem is we don’t need another ‘better midfielder’ on the pitch, we need a holding midfielder, hence the calls for Flamini
Agree. Leicester is a very fast counter-attacking team and we’ll have to watch for that the whole game. They will setup to play to defend deep and explode on the counter.
Arteta is slower and will be more exposed than Flamini. Le Coq is still way better, but in his absence Flamini is the better choice.
If Flamini plays and scores the first goal he is our top scorer this season so far. Insert crazy face emoji here.
““”̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ̿’̿’̵͇̿̿з=(•̪●)=ε/̵͇̿̿/̿ ̿ ̿ ̿ ̿’““
I wouldn’t mind seeing the same central midfield that started the League Cup to be honest. Give Cazorla a bit of a rest, he looked tired last time out.
No Özil?
I could see us resting Santi, but with a midfield pairing of Arteta or (Flamini in full on ankle-biting mode), alongside Ramsey, with both playing behind Mesut.
Ramsey gets the more Box-to-Box role, which is for me where he is best.
Ah yeah, got to be a place for Ozil. Possible stick Ramsey on the right, Giroud up top and Sanchez on the left. But what do I know, I’m a wee fan
If our injured player report says “Progressing well” , “will be in training soon”, “will have scan” I automatically think he is out for at least 3weeks 🙁 Get well soon Coquelin #justgoonerthing
The thought of Leicester’s counter attacking pace vs Arteta in midfield is going to give me anxiety dreams.
This game terrifies me.
I’m down with anti-fox-hunting legislation normally, but let’s have a moratorium tomorrow.
The Flame will smear their vixen blood on his face.
TALLY HO!
no Coq? we’re fucked.
Coq better be back for next week or we’re screwed. Manure are finally starting to click. Midfield is looking quite dangerous.
i love the last sentence of the article
and its crazy how many games we have in a short period of time. I forgot this period in the season is so important to have a deep squad. hopefully players like campbell, flamini and chambers can see a bit more time and continue to play well. if campbell can put in solid performances and build on that throughout the season, who knows, he could have a future as a squad player for us.
Hope Ozil does what he does best tommorow,and that Walcott gets the nod.
Sadly agree mate. This is the game we’ve all been fearing since December. The important game when our Coq is not fit for the task. We cannot under-estimate Leicester either. I play Ramsey and Santi behind Ozil with Ox and Alexis wide.
Unfortunately these are the games that we often have let downs in like against West Ham. Hopefully Gabriel is able to play as we’ll need pace all over the back line to cover any combination of players Wengers chooses for the two holding players.
Carzola will surely come back into the squad so the big question is does Wenger drop Ramsey in with him with the instructions to hold a bit more or go with Flamini or Arteta alongside Carzola?