According to the Daily Mail, there are serious concerns that Calum Chambers has suffered a season-ending ACL injury.
The centre-back went down during the Boxing Day defeat to Chelsea (video) and required extensive treatment before hobbling off and being replaced by Shkodran Mustafi.
Mikel Arteta said after the game that it sounded serious and he underwent a series of extensive tests yesterday.
Chambers has been a rare bright spark this season, playing in the centre of defence on the two occasions this season that we kept a clean sheet; away at Newcastle on the first day of the season and at Everton a couple of weeks ago.
He was suspended for the match against Bournemouth but restored to the starting lineup for Boxing Day and was shackling Tammy Abraham pretty well before his substitution on 24 minutes. If he has sustained an ACL injury he faces a long spell on the sidelines. It took both Rob Holding and Hector Bellerin nine months to make their return and the knock-on effects are still taking a toll to this day.
We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this news isn’t true but when rumours like this make it to the press, it’s not a great sign. We’re expecting a team news update for tomorrow’s game with Manchester United so we’ll be sure to keep you updated if we hear more.
This morning, The Mirror linked Arsenal were linked with a move for RB Leipzig’s Dayor Upamecano. Whether there’s truth in that rumour or not, it’s pretty certain we’re going to have to find a defender from somewhere in the coming weeks.
Come on this is getting ridiculous now. Is there a more unlucky club in European football, when it comes to injuries?
Chambers, especially, doesn’t deserve this.
I am very sorry that Chambers is injured, but the impression that Arsenal have been more impacted by injuries than other clubs is because Arsenal are the club we care about. We just played Bournemouth; look at who they have lost–well, we hardly know their names, but their loss is certainly even more impactful to a small club like Bournemouth. The other side is true also: a club like Man City can lose probably the best player in England (De Bruyne) for most of last season, and set a points record anyway.
Who has 3 ACL’s to first teamers in one year? Holding, Bellerin and now Chambers. Joke. That’s a decent back line. So sad :/
All defenders too 🙁
What have we done to deserve such bad luck with injuries. Even Fate teased us this season with all players fit at a time, when we were really performing poorly.
A game every two days, it’s no surprise players drop like flies in this time of year (for arsenal and other teams in the league).
The FA and the Premier League are an absolute disgrace. Fuck the fans, fuck the players, fuck everyone as long as they get their money. Mugs.
I don’t disagree with the fu*k da part. But the Christmas schedule is a long-lasting tradition and teams just have to deal with it. Nevertheless, Calum did not even play the last match. It’s just cruel unlucky coincidence that we had 3 this injuries in tthe past year… Gutted for him and for the team ☹
Some traditions need to be dropped. For the good of players that now work a lot harder than ‘back in the day’ so many more cup and European games at super intense levels.
Unless you’re LiVARpool. I see they’re getting another extra day’s rest.
As if they need any help! It’s almost as if the powers that be want them to win the title or something?
Spend our transfer budget on the guys in the VAR booth and those scheduling the fixtures.
Really shit that another young player is facing a long lay off
My heart just sank. Praying for Chambers to recover well.
Fuck! What horrible timing for him and us. He has started cementing his place as our best option at CB after years of being a squad player and being loaned out and then this happens. Really hope he can come back asap!
Meanwhile we’re left with the three clownsketeers at CB. Pray for a signing.
Unfair to call Mavrap a clownsketeer (am not really sure that that means, but it sounds bad). He may well be. But I’ve not seen enough of him to say.
And Luiz has played well lately. I know, he’s been suspect for a long time. But he’s not been the problem lately.
I think he meant, Luiz, Papa and Mustafi.
The new signings need to be made ASAP. Not just rumours throughout January and then making 1 signing at the last minute on 31 January at 8pm :\
Damn…. Just when we had him getting back to form and put in few impressive performance he is out for at least 6 mths…… This is similar to Holding, absolutely shell shocked if this is true as I type this on New years eve ?
FFS!!
This is fucked up please don’t be true this is so fucking fucked up why does this keep happening to our boys?
If the same type of injury keeps happening at an unusual rate it’s important to look at whether our training methods are making players more prone to that injury or if we’re just unlucky. If you remember we had a ridiculous number of muscular injuries under Wenger – it’s possible Emery’s methods made players more prone to ligament damage
Time to get Per out of retirement! Feel sorry for Chambers! Put in some good performances.
Happy new year to everybody. I still think we can finish top 6 this year. COYG
Devastated for him, has been far and away our best centre half,
A stands for Arsenal in ACL ☹️
Oh no, I feel for him as I like him as a player very much. The guy is so out of luck – sat down to bench after good performances by various managers and even loaned out after impressing in pre-season. I was even sad recently when he picked up his fifth yellow prior to Arteta’s first game as I thought he could lose his starting place that way again.
A transfer window opens up tomorrow – the only positive thing I can say right now.
Terrible news and just when he seemed to be finding some form and consistency as a centre back, gutted for him and worried for us.
I wonder if Arteta can work with and on Mavropanos so he can do a job for us in these difficult times as the alternatives don’t fill me with too much confidence?
oh, the annual ACL injury to our best defender, wheeeyyy
More like bi-annual.
Balls….
Fuck this shit. Every damn time. Us fans are soaked in a shower of shit and no matter how positive we try to be, it always gets worse and worse.
So gutted for him
The ACL injury always seems to knock a yard of pace off the sufferer, which is why it affected the likes of Upson, Bellerin and Walcott, far more than players like Pires and hopefully Chambers.
Fuck.
He’s been doing well and being relied on more, so for him and us, this is really rough.
At least we have the ACL gang here to keep his spirits up during recovery ?
I think we should have got a decent backup to hector as he dips in and out of the team like a yo-yo due to injuries, looks like we now have a left back and now two centre backs who are in the same boat!!! Definitely need a few robust players and yes I would sacrifice a hector who is capable of 9/10 match score ratings, for a player that regularly gets 7/10 and plays 90+% of the time!! Unfortunately I don’t think we will ever see the best of hector on a regular basis!!!
AMN is that decent back up. He’s done brilliantly the last few games.
I have been a vocal critic of him, but he’s looking like a player lately.
This brought tears to my eyes. How can a club be this unlucky with season ending injuries? Holding, Bellerin, and now Chambers, all within a calendar year more or less!
This is beyond ridiculous.
Jesus poor Callum, really thought he was on the verge of cementing a place as our 1st choice CB. On the plus side our physios must be among the best int he world at All rehabilitation, or at least the most practiced. Hope it’s only a minor tear and not a complete snap. The fact he walked off is a slightly encouraging sign, if the ligament had gone completely it’s very unlikely he’d have been able to walk off, unless he’s like a double hard bastard!
You can walk(limp) after initial pain, shock goes away after few minutes. I have done it twice playing football. Takes about a year to get back to normal fitness, but mentally much longer. I still can remember clearly how both injuries happened. It is very hard to push yourself 100% in physical activity because of fear of tearing it again.
Injuries always happen this time of year but I would be very interested in what is happening in that strength and conditioning space given we have now been 3 ACLs, hamstring issues in the squad and looks like our fitness is poor
Oh for fucks sake. Gutted for Chambers.
Tammy Abraham again. He may score some goof goals (unfortunately for us), but he’s a dangerous disaster if you get anywhere near him in a tackle or going for the same ball, as happened here — he just carried on straight into Chambers, resulting in the awkward fall that did his knee.
*good*, of course
That sounds like Rashford and Holding last year.
I agree. I thought Rashford was, at the very least, careless the way he collided with Holding a year ago.
My Dear Arsenal, when it rains it hurricanes … We need to send someone to see a Voodoo Doctor and break this freaking spell off. COYG!
How come teams of the past got through the season with small squads and only 1 sub? They also had players like Souness kicking lumps out of them, cup replays and very poor pitches.
Even in the early Wenger period we had a hardy type of player that was more aggressive instead of accepting a bullying. There has to be something wrong to constantly suffer these injuries. It is not a new thing and other teams don’t seem to have players at the dropping at this rate.
Since 1996 when Arsene joined the Arsenal the game of football has got faster .
For interest sake look at the Charlie George cup final and look at any Premier League game now , you can see the difference in the speed of the game .
Aren’t the players bigger also? Speed, mass, energy; physics is catching up with the game, although our luck seems to be shit with our two cbs in just over a year.
Indeed. An edition of ‘The Big Match’ was on the other day showing Arsenal 2- Liverpool 0 from the 1970s. Highbury pitch was a quagmire etc (and it was one of the better pitches even then).
Mrs said, “The players look really thin compared to now.”
Ah man, I’m absolutely gutted for the guy. Just as he’s settling into the first team.
Feel so gutted for Chambers as he had finally really cemented himself in the squad and was on his way to being a mainstay at center defender the rest of the season. We can pretty much rule out his being ready next Fall after what we’ve seen with Holding and Bellerin (and others before them) dealing with additional injuries once they are back in matches. My fear is that this news will prevent us from selling Mustafi in January, we desperately need to get someone and may have to overpay.
This is sad, I really feel for him. He truly is one player who gives it his best in the games
Is it to do with staff tho???, i don’t remember the class of 2004 and before having so many injures, well not all together anyway. I’d defo say players were tougher back then,
We are cursed.
krystian bielik?
… was permanently sold to Derby County at the start of the season.
Anyway, Only the very best and a speedy recovery to Callum.
If we didn’t have bad luck, we’d have no luck at all.
Sweet death! This has been a nightmare.
Gutted for Chambers.