According to the Telegraph, Laurent Koscielny’s recurring Achilles injury could see him miss further games after the Interlull.
The France international missed the 2-0 win over Brighton with the problem and has been undergoing rehabilitation in London throughout the last 10 days. Despite initially being selected by Didier Deschamps, he dropped out of his country’s final two World Cup qualifiers.
Koscielny’s participation in the game against Watford on Saturday remains in doubt, a concern that’s exacerbated by an injury sustained by Shkodran Mustafi in Germany’s win over Albania.
So far this season, Arsene Wenger’s preference has been to field Koscielny and Mustafi alongside Nacho Monreal in the centre of defence. In light of the shortage, and with games coming thick and fast, Rob Holding, Per Mertesacker and Calum Chambers, himself nursing a hip injury, could be called upon.
In better news, both Mesut Ozil and Danny Welbeck are on the mend after knee and groin problems respectively. The duo will provide competition for places up front with Alexis, Olivier Giroud, Alex Iwobi and Theo Walcott also in contention.
I remember how we crumbled without Kosc in the team in both of our matches against Bayern. We need him, hope he gets fit soon.
Well, we didn’t crumble against Chelsea in the FA cup final with a back 3 of Monreal Mertesacker and Holding, so hopefully we’ll be alright.
It’s Watford, not Bayern.
The Watford that beat us at the Emirates in January?
The Watford against whom we could not do it on a cold rainy night at the Emirates last season.
most people easily forget this is the EPL, heck it’s football. To have a good chance of winning you should have first your best players available
Mustafi injury is NOT good news at all.
With Koscielny also and if, we are going to be thin at the back.
You wonder if it was wise for Wenger to have sold Gabriel so early.
Metersecker may have to step in. Holding still has a steep learning curve. Calum doesn’t seem to get a look in.
Testing times…again.
I still wonder why we sold Gabriel — was it the player who wanted a return to Spain? Though he was error-prone, he had some good moments, had a good amount of pace — generally a useful squad player (imo).
He was utter garbage… Remember the 3-2 at old Trafford?
I think there’s a bit of revisionism going on re Gabriel based on him being a nice guy who always gave his best. We sold him because he wasn’t good enough. Simple enough decision to make I would have thought.
There was a lot of rumours about Mustafi leaving last summer, even after Gabriel had been sold and wasn’t Chambers available as well?
I don’t wonder. I know it was unwise.
How many Sr CB do you want at the club on the 25 man roster?
Chambers has had an injury niggle+ since the U21s Euros.
There are games he could have played but he wouldn’t have been 100% and could have aggravated the issue further.
If both Kos and Mustafi are out for Watford, Wenger’s gotta put Per in the middle. Monreal is great, but not in the middle, and neither Holding or Chambers can lead a back three.
Mr reliable really. What would be interesting to see is how we’ll kick on after he hangs the boots. Mustafi has all the traits to be our next boss at the back I think, he just needs to mature a bit.
If I know Arsene, we’ll start a back three of Iwobi, Akpom and Elneny.
Well you don’t know Arsene
I guess the best we can hope for at this point is that Kos can play one game a week at best and with Mustafi out it gives Chambers and Holding, who are both capable of one error per game, a chance to impress. It reminds me of the one injury away from disaster of days of old, and it is only October.
We can manage. Worst case can still go back to back 4 plus Coquelin as a shield.
Seasons are long and the other teams will too have to cope with injuries. Pogba and Krusty the clown are both out for weeks.
Always thought we got rid of Gabriel too soon… hope it’s not about to bite us on the backside.
Well, i am so used to this kind of news now.Now laca will truck load og goals and would probably get injured just before mancity.
Laca will get injured and will miss the whole season. We all know what happens when someone comes out and says thank god all our players are fit. Let’s start praying for more injuries.
How stupid is selling Gabby now!!! ??
time for Chambers and Holding to step up (though probably not in the same game). Holding has put in enough performances in enough big games that, alongside Mertesacker and Monreal, we should have confidence in him coping. Chambers played a full season last year, granted in a system that protects him slightly more, and won plaudits for his performances. Personally I think that role on the right of the three should really suit him. For both players this season is a great opportunity to step up and show Wenger they are ready to take the baton from Koscielny and Mertesacker.… Read more »
Not a good sign his having the same issues again this year so early in the season. I am afraid he is teetering on the edge of an achilles tear.
Mustafi has 8 mistakes in him per game so if my calculations are correct, that’s 8 fewer mistakes without him!