Arsene Wenger is hopeful that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s hamstring injury is not a serious one, saying the midfielder has suffered tightness rather than a definite pull during the 2-0 win over Southampton on Wednesday night.
The Ox came off after 35 minutes at St Mary’s, replaced by Hector Bellerin, and faces a possible race against time to be fit for the FA Cup final on May 27th.
Speaking afterwards, the Arsenal manager said it was too soon to tell, but was cautiously optimistic because of the nature of the problem.
“It’s difficult to assess now after the game,” Wenger said. “He is walking properly. It was tight, but it was not a knife.”
“I didn’t see any incident where he had to stop in a sprint. It was more fatigue.
“It’s a hamstring problem, but we don’t know how bad it is.”
To miss another cup final through injury would be a huge blow to the 23 year old who spoke in March about how gutted he was to miss out in 2014.
“In the season when we first won the FA Cup I played pretty much all the games,” he said.
“I got a little injury before the end of the season which kept me out for three weeks maybe. I came back with a week to go and I trained that week and then, to cut a long story short, the boss put out the squad for the final and I wasn’t in it.
“To say I was devastated was an understatement. I said I’m ready and in the end he decided to take me, but as the 19th man. I still had a bit of hope that I was going to make the bench.
“The day of the game came and he still didn’t put me on the bench and I was really devastated that day.
“But once the game started and we were 2-0 down my own disappointment went out the window and it was all about the team and the club doing well.”
He was a substitute in the 2015 final, coming on and setting up a goal for Olivier Giroud, but you can tell how much it’d mean to him to start.
Fingers crossed he can make it.
Hope he gets fit. Deserves it for his recent performances.
Hope he does it, would be an encouragement for him to stay if he plays (and preferably wins).
Well, based on this insight, you can bet that if he is fit and doesn’t start the final then negotiating for him to stay will suddenly become a lot harder.
Arsene going full Crocodile Dundee there
Hahahaha
Has to do a lot more running at full back and we’ve played a lot of games recently.
Give Bellerin a run during the next two games and then hopefully the Ox is ready for Everton and the Cup finale.
Get well soon, Ox. Hope you can start in the FA Cup Final. Fingers crossed for you.
Good luck Ox, I put my faith in you – you have a starting position in my fantasy team you know!
I hope Ox is fit again soon but I also hope that Bellerin plays so well in these next few matches that there is no question who should start in the FA Cup Final.
I know this has nothing to do with his injury, but I believe that Hector should start on the right & Ox should start on the left. 1.) Ox is two-footed 2.) Gibbs has been absolutely sterile on the left. I like him like I like Jenkinson but he can not be starting on a top table team.
This could all be moot if Kos gets back quickly & Monreal start at the left wing. But, some food for thought.
No need to change something that is working, Ox is far better on the right than Bellerin plus with Alexis you need someone on the left who gives more defensive protection, both Monreal and Gibbs can do that.
You’re playing too much fifa.
Monreal (gibbs a long distant second but I’d rather he not play much at all since monreal should be our backup to a top class lwb) LWB, MUSTAFI KOS HOLDING CB. OX/BELLERIN RWB. pretty simple
No need to change a winning combination. My real issue is with Welbeck. I don’t understand why he merits a place in the starting eleven over Giroud. If Wenger feels Giroud is not good enough upfront, I think with Lucas back in the fold, he can move Alexis central and put Lucas on the left. Welbeck is just showing thumbs up for good crosses put in by his team mates. We need him to put those crosses in the back of the net, not show his approval.
He put one of those crosses in the back of the net against Man Utd, to be fair.
Whoever starts at RWB in the final, they will need to be on top form to get the better of Marcus Alonso on that side.
I’d fancy Ox over Hector in that regard, just because he has a better chance of pinning the Chelsea man back if he’s on top form.
That game will be won and lost by the wing-backs methinks.
Which is why we can’t have Gibbs playing LWB… should be nacho..
i’ll pray to DB10 for him
I would love to see Iwobi on LWB if it happens that we’re in a need to chase the result and we have to go All In! I know he’s been pretty poor defensively but he is still young and can improve in that aspect.
Hope he makes the final. Big game player and Arsenal through and through.
Wonder if it was a sharp pain.
We don’t need the Ox because nobody improves under Wenger anymore.
Not the Ox, not MOnreal, not Koscielny.
Wenger is hopeless, can’t buy decent players. HOlding for 2m? You’re having a laugh.
Because Granit can’t pass a ball like Elneny and Mustafi doesn’t clear the ball enough or make any intercepts.
😉
Do you not see the contradiction in your constant wittering? Arsene is great at identifying and signing players, yet Elneny is average. Who signed Elneny, exactly?
It’s a complete straw-man argument, in any case. It’s not his ability to identify talent that’s a problem, but his ability to organise them into a functioning collective.
Players seem to be under instruction to stop as soon as a problem arises, and none of that “man-up and play until you’re totally fucked” mentality that wrecked players in the past. Hopefully the Ox will be back quickly, he does seem to have upped his game lately.
Hope he’s there fo the final, I can see him curling in a “It’s only Ray Parlour” wonder goal.