According to the Guardian Hector Bellerin has been diagnosed with a cruciate ligament rupture which ends his season and in all likelihood will see him miss the start of the 2019-20 season too.
The full back went down during the second half of Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Chelsea on Saturday, and immediately it was apparent that he’d sustained a serious injury. He was taken off on a stretcher and afterwards Unai Emery said, “The prediction is it could be an important injury.
“I hope no, but our first impression is not positive.”
The 23 year old will travel to Barcelona for surgery, before returning to London to begin the arduous process of rehabilitation.
His is the second cruciate injury suffered by an Arsenal player this season. Rob Holding is also sidelined having ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament against Manchester United in December.
It leaves Emery with some thinking to do in terms of a replacement. Stephan Lichtsteiner was signed on a free from Juventus during the summer but has struggled with the pace of the Premier League, while Carl Jenkinson remains part of the squad, and Shkodran Mustafi has also played there in the past.
Ainsley Maitland-Niles could also fit the bill – as outlined in today’s Arseblog – but we’ll wait and see what the manager does.
First and foremost though we wish Hector a speedy and successful recovery. He’s one of the good guys, and we’ll miss him on and off the pitch.
Get well soon, Hector!
Also, please change your kit number – it is jinxed!
Diaby, Debuchy and now Bellerin!
Who do we have in the academy who can play RB?
Jordy osui tutu u23 , vontae Daley Campbell u18
Ffs, why’s it feel like we’re constantly being kicked in the fucking nuts…
Oh dear. Get well soon, Hector!
Time for someone to step it up big time. I don’t care who that is – AMN, Lichsteiner, Jenko or even Mustafi – it’s crucial we get behind whoever is the chosen one because these are really big shoes to fill and yet we somehow need them to be filled in order to succeed.
Let’s keep fingers crossed that Jenks can be the Coq of 2019 and find a way to drag himself off the transfer list and into the first team.
In the Chelsea game, the midfield of Xhaka-Guendouzi-Torreira was really good. As long as they stay injury free, I assume they will start in the next games. Hence, there will not be room for AMN in midfield in 4-3-3. Maybe right back, although I think he is a very promising wing.
Not a great day for us
Let’s hope we can smash Man Utd on Friday
Come back stronger. Look forward to seeing people triggered by your outfits at the Emirates every other weekend.
High Fashion Day at the Emirates in honor of our Hector!
Ugh
Get well Hector! As gutted as we are, it’s small potatoes compared to what Hector feels I’m sure. Come back even stronger than before! ⚽??
Gutted
Bit of a tangent, but does any one know how Chambers is doing with his loan… I know he struggled at right back before, but with defensive injuries mounting up maybe its a thought to recall him if we have that option and he is playing well?
He’s grown into Fulhams best player at CDM. I don’t know how complimentary that actually sounds tbh considering its Fulham but he really does catch the eye with his performances since moving to CDM. I don’t think putting him back at RB would be doing him any favours though, he should be a CB or CDM. Seeing as we haven’t recalled him to cover at CB when we were desperate I don’t see it happening now.
That’s good to hear he is starting to fulfil his potential. You may be right about it cause he is at Fulham, on plus side with them struggling he probably is having to work pretty hard.
I do agree putting him at RB would probably not help him much if we did recall him, but with a few people throwing out Mustafi’s name and him moving to RB, we could bring him back and he could slot into the centre.
He’s getting a big boost of confidence if nothing else. He’ll still have to prove he can do it under the pressures you face at the other end of the table though but I really think he’s got something about him to succeed at the very highest level. I’d rather see Mustafi do Mustafi things at RB (rather not see him at all if possible ofc) and know, well that’s Mustafi, than see Chambers play there and lose confidence. But then again maybe it would be good test of his mettle to put the past firmly behind him? I really… Read more »
That’s surprising for me. As far as I been following his scout reports were not positive, including his last loan spell as well. He will most probably be sold in summer.
How far have you been following them? He played his first game in that role against Liverpool (Jokanovic’s last game) and he was immense and he’s really just gone from strength to strength since. I think you’d do well to find anyone criticizing his form since then.
And not positive reports from his time at Boro? What? You need better sources of information my friend, that’s literally the exact opposite of what anyone would say.
He’s been bossing it as their defensive midfielder and hopefully gets a chance with us next season, along with Bielik who’s also doing well in the same position at Charlton. I’d really expect both of them to be taken on the pre-season tour and be given a chance as they’re putting in some gutsy performances.
I wonder of Mustafi is being considered for that position by Emery. Would honestly like to see it happening, he played in that position for Germany a couple of times and did well. Would also add some more strength in the air on corners, both in defensive and attack.
i dont mean this to be mean towards Mustafi but.. im sure it cant be worse than some of his centre back performances.. mustafi might be a better rb than cb.. One of the positives (wenger and) emery sees with mustafi is his passing abilities and long range balls so playing him as a rb when he is played might not be that stupid haha
Only obvious downside is (which could be positive) is lack of attacking threat. U would have to change formation almost to put Mustafi at fullback.
Once there was injury to Gibbs and Wenger bought Monreal to sure up the position, considering how important it is. Let’s see if Emery too makes it his priority after Suarez signing is done. And get any quality enough player on loan who can compete with our internal solutions for the rest of the season.
I think of this coming to see how crucial Bellerin was to our Chelsea performance. Full backs are absolutely the most important players in modern game and more so in Emery’s system.
Gute Besserung Hector
Heartbroken for him, stay strong young padawan
Gutted for Hector! But very much looking forward to seeing his choice of knee brace. A nice Gucci number with gold lace stitching and Mink fur lining.
As soon as Hector went doen i feared the worst.
Get well soon Hector!!
Niles, or Jenkinson. I’ll give Jenkes a go, Niles is allright but not a rightback.
Funny to see u down voted. What u stated was fact.
Lichtsteiner is the best defender of the three, so I’d choose him in games like City away, but use AMN for other games where we need more attacking threat
Will miss him. He got so much stick last year. This year, it was looking like he would be crucial for our top four ambitions. I’m very sad he will be out for this long.
I hope he gets well and has a speedy recovery. Hope comes back even stronger. Hector is one of the players I really want to see playing for us for many many years to come.
We will miss you Hector.
Damn it
fuck
Huge loss. Really came along his season, took on a whiff of future great. Pissed off! And he was just returning from injury. FFFFFFFFFS.
Rough on Hector with one game back and now his season is over? Geeezz.
But Mustafi?? seriously? This is a real problem because I don’t fancy any of the likely candidates. I love AMN but not as a right back and the Licth and Corporal Jenks show? No thanks. I’d rather see Zech Medley given a run out.
Seriously, this is a major blow guys.
Lol, who is downvoting this, the people HAPPY about his injury? Gotta laugh.
LICHTSTEINER TIME!
Bergkamp help us
Absolutely gutted. Darren Burgess and team need to do some more research into our injury problems this season. I hope it isn’t related to Emery’s training methods. This is the second cruciate we have had this season. A while ago we had many hamstring tweaks especially with Ramsey. I wish Hector a speedy recovery.
Yeah I thought it was only the women that suffered ACL’s but now it is decimating the men’s team too!
Why is this becoming a regular problem?
Is it the pitches, training methods, studs, boots?
I know of several ex-professionals who claim that modern boots are the cause of all of the metatarsal injuries that we see these days. The lightweight slippers that players wear to enable the sprints that they do and put swerve on the ball when they shoot do not appear to protect the feet at all when they get stamped on by a mis-timed tackle.
January signing or loan I say, for that position. We can’t risk it knowing we do not have a full time RB till end of season.
I did not see the injury — was it a bad tackle? A misstep/awkward fall? Also, between Holding and Bellerin, at what point do people start looking at conditioning and preventative measures that were perhaps not taken?….
It was an awkward landing similar to holding’s. Just bad luck, can’t blame these injuries on S&C
Nobody touched him, just took a wrong step while chasing a ball. ACL injuries are very often about bad footing – it’s not easy to solve the issue but maybe modern science will find a way?
Resurrect the Jenks
Well this sucks hard balls
If only we didn’t have Dinosaur Wenger as the coach… 2 ACL’s in one season would never have happened.
That’s a real blow! An intelligent young man and fantastic player. Get well soon mate.
Hector is the man, hope he has a speedy recovery and comes back strong.
But please, can Mustafi or Lichtsteiner cannot come back into the team.
Simply not good enough.
I am a huge fan of Bellerin (despite him being fashion challenged). During the slow build-up preferred by Wenger, his speed and offensive qualities were underused. In the present, slightly more direct Emeryball, he will be hugely important. Get well soon, and have a nice holiday before training can start!
Not sure the physio and recouperation after an ACL injury could be described as “a nice holiday” but I get your sentiment.