Arsene Wenger says that Sead Kolasinac and Calum Chambers could feature against Watford on Sunday despite picking up a knock and cramp respectively in last night’s 2-0 win over AC Milan last night.
The Bosnia international was replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles towards the end of the match after receiving treatment on his ankle.
After the match, the boss provided an update on the fitness of his back-up full-backs and also touched on the status of our other absentees including Nacho Monreal, Hector Bellerin and Alex Lacazette.
“Sead Kolasinac has an ankle problem, but we don’t rule him out for Sunday yet,” he told Arsenal.com.
“Calum Chambers had cramps, because he played in a position which he is not used to for a centre back. He should be OK though.
“Nacho Monreal is on a good way, he could be available again for next Thursday.
“Hector Bellerin we don’t know yet, we have to see. He is not available for the weekend though.
“Alexandre Lacazette has his first run today, but won’t be back until after the international break.”
Hmmn. I don’t why I am so indifferent, but I’ve been so disappointed this season that our losses has made victory not to feel like it anymore.
Man, a 2-0 away win at a big European team, in a competition that could yet salvage our horrendous season and potentially get us back in the Champions League, after a disastrous run of form….and that does absolutely ZERO for you??
Just saying…
Some fans can never be pleased.
We’ve won 3 FA cups in last 4 seasons. We are the record holders of that competition with Wenger having the most wins in the club’s history.
We are potentially (with some hard work still) within shot of that elusive european trophy, bearing in mind we have NEVER been a force in europe before Wenger (some secondary also run trophies)
Sure we should be doing better in league which is a massive dissapointment but…
A bit of perspective.
Those trophies weren’t ‘also run’ trophies. The Champions League actually used to only have Champions in it at the time, so the calibre of teams in the UEFA Cup and Cup Winners Cup was quite high. The Parma team that Arsenal beat in the final was full of top class players like Zola, Brolin and Asprilla. You’re obviously in the group of fans that thinks Arsene Wenger created Arsenal. The club was already the third most successful club in England before he arrived. You don’t have to denigrate everything that came before him in order to defend him. Yes, he… Read more »
Sorry, i love Wenger and Arsenal as much as anyone; but the level at which we play, is not good enough anymore.
Take em as they come. And if everything about our losses makes you feel that bad, then when we lose just distance yourself from comment until the next game. Its just football, not something horrific like the crisis in Myanmar, despicable like international criminal finance and tax dodging while welfare shrinks, something disastrous like a terminal illness, not something frightening like running out of money and getting fired. Football isn’t supposed to bring you down, its supposed to lift you up. If you feel so bad, take some distance, have some perspective, and do something to cheer yourself up. At… Read more »
Just go out there and enjoy now, my dear Arsenal…. I see you are back
It’s was a top performance, but Milan sat off us. Soon as a team presses us I worry we’ll be in trouble again. The win should give our confidence a boost at the least though.
HOW did Milan sit off on us? They were all over us first 10 minutes and we had to weather the storm. They pressed very high on us in the second half. Were you watching? In fact this is the reason Granit is critical. BC he has it in his locker to pick raking passes from deep, it gives teams pause for thought in not committing too high up in their press. BUT I didn’t see a Milan team lacking effort. Just our players pound for pound are better if they bother to show up. Wenger took a gamble that… Read more »
Play the same team, they are bound to have improved in confidence.
Laca Nacho sounds good too.
What play Welbeck again?
I have always wanted us to try that central midfield trio of Ramsey, Jack and Xhaka. I think we should stick with it as it is the best we have got to offer. Get an upgrade on upgrade on Xhaka and we have got a rock solid midfield.
I’d prefer ElNeny to Xhaka.
I don’t. Only in certain circumstance. What we really need is an upgrade to Elneny not Granit. Granit has improved a lot in recent 3 games. His tackling is better timed and he is coming to better grips positionally. The more limited Elneny is still the more diligent bc Granit can switch off which is the main problem. BUT if Granit learns to focus through the 90 minute, he is a much more potent weapon than the flimsy Egyptian who can be lightweight with tackles and challenges (granted he is pretty decent with intercepts) I think some people need to… Read more »
An upgrade on an upgrade on a 36 million player? That’s gonna cost a pretty penny.
Won’t be available until after the international break.. crap! There’s an international break again
Important friendlies.
To protect him from playing in those, I’d assume.
We actually missed the international break during our 4 bad runs. Because it might have changed little bit on players confident fronts.
“Calum Chambers had cramps, because he played in a position which he is not used to for a centre back”.
Can someone explain why cramp might attack simply because of playing in a slightly different position?
I thought it was due to a lack of electrolytes.
Having to run further
Full back tends to run a few kilometres more than center half. However Calum Chambers got his break at Southampton as a right back and never got cramps. To me that just prove that Arsenal’s players are not fit enough. In the previous round, Iwobi got cramps after 80 minutes during the second leg of the tie. Fit professional footballers do not suffer from cramps in a normal game time. Every Arsenal players leaving the club on loan or sold after the beginning of the season is judged by his new club not fit enough to start immediately. That is… Read more »
Agree. I may be mad, but I think we have a problem with making our players build up their muscle mass too much. I think it has affected a few of our players, like Iwobi, Wilshere and Bellerin. All of them look like they’ve lost some pace/agility/stamina compared to their respective break-out performances. Look at Oxlade-Chamberlain’s physique at Liverpool. I’m sure he’s lost a fair bit of muscle mass in order to be faster and fitter. I think that was the work that Klopp was talking about regarding his settling in. Quite a few of their players are markedly skinnier… Read more »
It’s that tough balance between endurance and durability. Prior to gunners bulking up – a notable amount of which was after Shad arrived- we had durability issues with some of our players. Theo, Jack, Gibbs, etc. It’s a physical league. Some of them were really helped by it. But I agree, it does look like the bulking up costs them endurance.
In Chamberlain’s case perhaps dropping some bulk will be easier on the muscle strains that nagged him.
What’s going on with Bellerin? Hope it isn’t serious or something more nefarious to do with DNA. Frankly we have our fullbacks sorted. Chambers has been decent BC Rback is his natural position. Its where he impressed with Soton. But I’d like to see AMN at Rback and continued in his evolution in this role rather than shuffled to midfield ala Chambers. Its his natural side and he can add a lot of power and width going forward. This was conspicuously missing with Chambers against milan, our right side being a bit more subdued in width. Albeit of course Chambers… Read more »
Yikes. Sounds like a thin squad for this weekend.
Might be a chance for some youngsters to step up at least
There is an international break coming up? Why does it always take an age for them to go, and when they come back, no matter how long its been, it always feels like it was yesterday? Not extatic about it.