According to the Evening Standard, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain should recover from his hamstring injury in time for the visit of Crystal Palace on New Year’s Day.
The England international came on as a second half substitute at Manchester City but lasted only 15 minutes before picking up the problem. He was subsequently replaced by Mohamed Elneny.
While the hamstring issue will sideline the Ox for the Boxing Day game with West Bromwich Albion, it’s a bonus that he’s not suffered a serious tear.
Aaron Ramsey, Shkodran Mustafi, Mathieu Debuchy, Per Mertesacker, Danny Welbeck and Santi Cazorla are the other names on the treatment table at London Colney.
Let’s hope everyone else is back too.
Because they definitely haven’t been there the last couple of games.
I really want Perez to get a game. He’s scored 5 in 7. It’s beyond strange when he can play as a wide player as well and is v quick. Undermines the confidence he built up with that hattrick too.
Ours not to reason why I guess.
Wenger has to be seeing something on the training ground. He sounds like a top guy and seems to be handling himself very well on the field. He should have gotten a few more minutes than he did at Man City in my opinion. If the current trend continues won’t be long before Lucas or Giroud are back in the team. Ozil really was the difference maker in both the matches either he is tired or he has made his mind up to move on. In either case no point playing him right now, and to take him out will… Read more »
i have a suspicion that it might be because having Perez in the team doesn’t represent a big change in the ‘system’ or ‘style of play’ we would try and establish during a game.
Playing someone like Giroud or Akpom (when he recovers) would though, j think.
Wenger should bench Ozil not for lack of quality but to send him a message. Big coaches always do that with big players who are not giving 100% of efforts.
I don’t understand the Ozil bashing, yeah he’s had a couple of bad games but Iwobi on the left has contributed very little this season, not only in an attacking sense but he’s also almost completely nonexistent defensively.
You can’t buy top players like Ozil and Sanchez and ask them to consistently pick up the slack left by others, everyone has to contribute to get the benefits.
We need to either replace Iwobi with someone who contributes or change formation so we have 11 contributing players
It’s true though, a manager sometimes has to send a message. Benching players is not a crazy thing when they are failing to live up to their ability. You hope they wake up, or forget about their contract for a minute. Sometimes it pays to watch just watch a game.
Of course he should but when the player who’s been dropped can point to a teammate who hasn’t performed all season the chances are you’re going to create resentment.
Iwobi will become a good player but he should be sent out on loan somewhere to be inconsistent, not in the Arsenal first team and not at the expense of the likes of Ozil and Sanchez.
This is a basic lesson that Wenger refuses to learn.
Real football is not a playstation game. Sometimes human beings can get tired, you know.
That too, rest is needed
We didnt show great character but we were tactically outdone. High press works well against us. I dont blame the players largely on this occasion. I agree at times some players were questionably placid. The performance reminded me of the days before le coq. And then I think about how he has enforced himself in the same way the last two games. And im not blaming him entirely but when he isnt bossing it defensively he is pretty much void and we are weak. He is there to do that one job no one else can do, and when he… Read more »
I think if we stand a chance of winning the league, Wenger is going to have to rotate. Our squad depth could see us back on top or gain a lot of ground in the coming weeks and with a busy schedule beginning on Monday. Ozil and Sanchez need a rest. Also, competition is never a bad thing for the likes of Bellerin and Monreal.
Agreed. And we need to show the team we can win a league game without them. And WBA is a perfect opportunity. Or else I guarantee the both of them will be injured before the CL comes back around.
It’s because Wenger doesn’t like players that show up in the right place at the right time to poach the final opportunity home. It’s too easy. The squad is under strict orders to never make a far post run and he clearly violated those orders.
I kid, I kid.
I think?
It shouldn’t be a question of work rate, as Lucas worked his hole off defending on the wing and protecting our lead when he was on in the cup match.
I know Oxlade has made a step-up this season, but I’m still not sure he’s good enough to have enough of an impact on the team to help win us trophies. And Iwobi is 20/21 so it would be unreasonable to expect him to make a difference every week as well. Do we sign Draxler? It would mean we have an overload of players who can play wide with Welbeck coming back as well, not to mention it would most certainly mean Joel Campbell not returning. Draxler would cost at least £30m, but again I’m not sure if he’d make… Read more »
Ospina
Bellerin Gabriel Kos Monreal
Elneny Xhaka
Ozil
Walcott Sanchez Perez
Also I wouldn’t mind dropping Monreal for Gibbs. It sometimes seems to me that Monreal plays better when he gets a game off in between
Also I think West Brom is an opposition that Coq could sit out, I’d rather have him ready for (semi-)attack minded Crystal palace
Palace just asked their manager to sod off…. politely..
So who knows what they will bring to the party when we play them. Hate playing teams who have just got a new manager.. complete unknown.
Would like to see Holding, Gibbs, Perez get a chance. Xhaka-Elneny in midfield as Coq limits our passing.
Why is Welbeck on treatment table? We heard he was back in training.
Well I think it’s more like he’s just getting off the table, putting his shoes on, that can take a week or two sometimes.
*Table is located on the pitch and treatment sessions are conducted at 8am, which just happens to coincide with training timings so clubs tend to group the two together for sake of simplicity
What is wrong with Ramsey?
I was curious about that too. The club website said Toe. Was supposed to be back in training after City match, but wasn’t in the training shots.
Do you think he was actually injured and it wasn’t tactical? Wondering if the injury was a cover story. Just given the way he threw his shirt at the bench and all.
I seriously doubt Wenger plays that game. He’s probably right pissed at his bad injury luck just when he was starting to get his form back.
Pongogo, go look at the game again. I knew he was injured the minute he cringed after a run. He looked straight at the bench but continued to move until replaced. He was frustrated at being crocked again.
Great news. Surely he won’t start so soon after if something went on him last time out though?
Why is Welbeck on treatment table? We heard he was back in training.?
Cech Bellerin Gabriel Kos Gibbs Elneny Xhaka Walcott Iwobi Perez Giroud We are at home to WBA. West Brom. And then at home to Palace. if we can’t win when resting Sanchez and Ozil for at least one game each (even if one for one game then the other for the next game) then we are f worded. In fact, man city was the 18th Dec. We have Swansea away on Jan 14. Between those, we have WBA and Palace at home, Bournemouth away and Preston in the cup. The only game id be concerned about is Bournemouth away. We… Read more »
I think Holding is ready, anyone agree?
Obviously it’s nice to have healthy players, but ask anybody and they’ll tell you that Ox has no place in a team with title aspirations. I don’t understand how he starts for us.
Missing a few positions, but this is the start of a pretty strong injured 11. Perhaps James from Gunnerblog could be the leftback.
(missing)
(missing) BFG Mustafi Debuchy
Ramsey Cazorla
(missing)
Ox, Welbz, (missing)
Seeing as we’ve also had Bellerin, Coquelin, and Giroud injured for some time this season, let’s use them to fill in the holes:
(missing)
Bellerin, Mertesacker, Mustafi, Debuchy
Coquelin, Cazorla
Welbeck, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain
Giroud
That team wouldn’t even need a goalkeeper against most opposition!
I hope Ox at the Palace has the same kind of devastating effect like a bull in a china shop!
I’ll get my coat.
Would like to see proper rotation in the coming games. Game time for Giroud, Lucas, Gibbs, Elneny, Holding as they have all been solid when called upon this season. Also we need to rest Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott, Kos, Xhaka as they have been playing so much lately. Hope to see Ramsey back soon too, he could be that exactly what we need in midfield if he finds form. Had a promising display as CM against Basel with Xhaka, wasn’t too bad against PSG either. One alternative we haven’t tried is Ramsey/Elneny midfield two in a 4-4-2 (that we are using… Read more »