Mohamed Elneny will miss Egypt’s World Cup qualifier with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s Gabon after picking up a muscle injury.
The news comes after the midfielder missed Wednesday’s clash with Angola due to travel restrictions imposed by the Premier League on the UK’s COVID-19 red-listed countries, which includes his homeland.
Having been forced to stay in London, the 29-year-old took part in Arsenal’s behind-closed-doors friendly with Brentford but was substituted after 33 minutes to be replaced by Charlie Patino. We’re guessing that this is when the injury occurred.
Hopefully, it’s not too serious given Granit Xhaka is suspended for Arsenal’s next three games and Thomas Partey is yet to resume full training following his pre-season ankle injury.
On a separate note, it looks like Mo’s chances of joining Besiktas have disappeared. According to various reports, the Turkish club, with whom he spent the 2019/20 campaign on loan, had expressed an interest in re-signing the midfielder but have since recruited Miralem Pjanic from Barcelona.
Thomas partey is fully giving me diaby vibes now. Not gona get better as he nears 30 as well.
Dunno why you’re getting downvotes, you’re right
Bring back Diaby, at least when fit he was a beast
I don’t get the comparison.
Partey is a beast too when fit.
Biggest difference, Diaby didn’t have play with Xhaka and spend all day worrying about covering for him against the break.
You really have got to stop taking the words out of my mouth…!!
Well said, mate. 👍
I get all the anti Xhaka sentiments but Denilson was no Vieira
Cesc was no Denilson. Neither was Song and he mostly played with them.
I’m not sure Diaby ‘mostly’ played with anyone…. he ‘mostly’ limped gingerly from doctor’s appt to doctor’s appt.
I loved watching him play, don’t get me wrong, guy was just super unlucky, like Jack. Both at their peak were world class, but the peak was a flash – if injuries never happened Arsenal would be such a different story over the past 15 years.
Mostly in a relative sense. I remember a lot of negative sentiment with Diaby early on though. I was a big fan as he just oozed potential, but he was pretty inconsistent early on. Then he kinda broke out during 2009 (end of 2008/09 and beginning of 2009/10) where he was actually fit for a while – he was amazing. IMO he was the Arsenal player’s career I was most upset about losing to injury. Watching him glide across the pitch was like a footballing dream.
Diaby still has the best away midfield performance i can remember against Liverpool at Anfield. Followed closely by Santi at City. Oh how i wish….
I know people like to hyperbole but Vieira had literally dozens of performances as good as Diaby’s at Liverpool
I don’t remember any standout Vieira performances because he had so many. I do remember him making Keane and Scholes his bitch quite a lot though
Yeah, I think that’s sometimes the problem with Paddy, his brilliance was so regular it’s glossed over. We were privileged to watch him.
Paddy Power!
Too many wonderful football memories (that fucking screamer against Wimbledon in ‘98) but non football memories include grabbing Keane by the throat and literally lifting him more or less off the ground with one hand. Oh how we all laughed. That big Gaelic greeny he sent flying at Neil Ruddock was bloody hilarious too.
My bad. The Vieira goal in ‘98 was against Newcastle.
Seem to remember him nearly taking John Terry’s head off during one match
Is the bigger regret that he didn’t literally take off John Terry’s head or that he was always crocked?
Carling cup final IIRC…Which we dominated with kids, (Walcott first goal) but Diaby coming off after nearly killing JT lost us the game. It was almost worth it.
Yes I remember he was visibly upset after it
Partey’s been ordinary for us so far, he’s looking like a very poor signing at the minute.
Xhaka’s been ordinary for us for more than five years now and cost 70% of the fee and doesn’t have the excuse of injury or having to play alongside Granit Xhaka either.
What’s it got to do with xhaka, he was shit when xhaka played left back or wasn’t in the team. He’s been a poor signing so far. 45 million and supposedly 250k a week. I can’t see how that can be argued with, which game did he look like a good signing in?
He was excellent when he partnered Mo, you just love to belittle Partey so you can feel better about your love affair for Xhaka, Xhaka belittles himself. The best teammates make the players they play with better. Partey does that for Xhaka because of his mobility and ability to read the game and cover for Xhaka. Xhaka makes his teammates worse because they have to play cautiously so Xhaka can be more successful and that is how Arteta sets the team up to minimise the effects of Xhaka’s limitations, which restrains the players around him. There is not a single… Read more »
Read my posts, I think xhaka is an average player. After this past week I don’t think he should play again. But xhaka has nothing to do with the fact that partey has been a poor signing so far. There’s no xhaka for next 3 games, no excuses for partey. Which game has partey looked a good signing in?. I thought the only game he played well in was Sheffield United. They were already relegated, had sacked their manager and were on holiday. HES BEEN A POOR SIGNING SO FAR.
Bad luck with injuries and poor system to play in, hopefully both can improve and we’ll see what he can do.
I hope as much as anyone he comes good, think we’re in trouble if him gabriel and white don’t have a good season.
Inclined to agree with you, we’re hoping for a big season from a lot of new players also. I like the look of some of the new lads it’s just they’re coming into an unstable management setup which is not ideal for a bedding in period where we’re already chasing the season.
What makes me more anxious is we miss him for at least a month in January aswell. We have burnley/Spurs and City in Jan. Then if he comes back with an injury or needs rest we have Wolves, Chelsea, Liverpool and brentford in February. JEEZ is there any easy games this season
Diaby was on another skill level no comparison
Glad he’s staying. Love Mo. Hard working, genuine, professional attitude, and a great guy to have in the dressing room.
Great at passing sideways and backwards
Not true. Elneny has a forward pass in him when there are runners in front of him.
When all the forwards are stuck like training cones, a forward pass is only an invitation for a quick counter.
My only misgiving with Elneny is playing out of the press. He panics and gives the ball away often.
I think he would probably do fine in a team where he was the lubricant in a team that knew what it was doing, with the more consistent stars around him. He is never going to be the spark, but there have been plenty of good teams with what look initially like pretty average players ticking things over in midfield.
Well, at least I think he could be that…bit hard to know really.
You are right. Elnenys don’t thrive in chaos. They aid a system that is already working.
They don’t want the headlines; thr game is not supposed to be about them. They are mainly water carriers.
Well here’s the thing Moses ; Emery made Elneny available for a pittance 2 years ago. If he is as you say he is, then why did no one buy him…..26/27,……we made him available for a 5m fee….and yet not one single club wanted to commit (& this was pre-Covid!) ….so we ended up scrambling around getting someone to take him on loan.
Maybe the more obvious truth is (admitting he is a great lad who works really hard & is good to have around) that he is just nowhere near good enough ?
You could well be correct and your point is well made.
I guess I see a tidiness and calm about him that I could imagine him being the forgotten man in a good team.
Happens when you do not have a safe pass in front of you…lol. Speaking of sideways and back passing… this all started to me when Arteta began playing for arsenal. I recall legit getting on about him every game with my friends.
So there is somebody out there who saw what I was.
Arteta himself was the sideways pass master.
Didn’t passing sideways start with Emery?
Started with Wengers last two seasons.But he realised we couldn’t defend for shit so keeping the ball excessively became our way…Think it was referred to as Crab football..But at least we would keep the ball high up the pitch while doing it and probe around the box.
I hope he’s fit to partner Sambi after the break. I think they can hold the fort until Partey comes back and we finally get a ‘Konga-Partey!
I’d rather see Elneny start every game over Xhaka if we have to pick one of them. Neither will win us points on their own, so I’d prefer a cool head with a bit more mobility, rather than ablockhead with the mobility of a cargo van and attitude of a spoiled child.
People are forgetting that Partey actually dovetails quite well with Elneny.
For all Xhaka’s faults let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. We (stupidly) turned down Roma’s 12m approx offer for Xhaka. We wouldn’t even get 1 million for Elneny..
Our luck lately has been absolutely comical.
Has nothing to do with luck
A spate of injuries has nothing to do with luck? 🤔
Voo-doo then?
Not lately. This injury voodoo has been going on pass 20+ years.
Now we’ve just added Covid to the mix for extra suspense over who might be lost from the lineup at the last second.
So Pjanic was available on loan. Technically adept deep lying playmaker, we could have done a lot worse. I’m not saying he would solve all our midfield issues but surely worth a look at if he was prepared to go to Besiktas for a season.
Quite surprised that he would move to Turkey without any major European club showing interest. Beskitas are apparently paying only one third of his salary and there is no loan fee as well. Have to say that they have made a sweet deal.
barca’s troubles show how hard it is to shift unwanted players on big wages. at least we haven’t had to sign luuk de jong.
Besiktas are smart.
Initially Pjanic wanted to go back to Juventus, which they put an offer but rejected by Barcelona… As the European transfer window Closed, Besiktas pounced with only 10 minutes remaining to put him on the UEFA Champions league squad.. AFC could of done this deal on the last day of transfer, but thanks to our Technical Director & his great Network team they missed the opportunity.. 😁
I signed him in footy manager about 10+ years back and Pjanic turned my Milwall team I brought up from the lower divisions into a force. I turned down a 50M quid offer for him from Liverpool…He didn’t like that and eventually forced his way out for 20M, sounds familiar?
It’s AA time.
Albert and Ainsley.
This gives AM a run in the middle, he fulfils his (mostly self-avowed) promise, Lak, AM and Partey become our key midfield rotation. That’s the happy narrative.
Slight hint of doom about that combination for me. Very light weight.
Yep but it may be the only two fit CM’s we have for Norwich. Certainly has that intriguing hint of Diaby and Denilson about it.
Serge Aurier is now a free agent, he’s better than Cedric or Chambers.
Was once regarded as the next big thing. Now just an effing liability.
Can’t work out whether you’re joking or being sincere. Personally I’m gutted he’s no longer with the Spuds. I used to revel in singing “Aurier’s a donkey” to the tune of “Let’s all have a disco” whenever he got on the pitch – he never disappointed on that front.
We just signed a RB who’s better than Serge “free agent for a reason” Aurier.
Just came on to say..
Fuck Kia Joorabchian.
Broker this shit if you’re so good.
FFS thought we were gonna move him on. We need Kessie who’s a free agent next season….
Should a player we were looking to sell be involved in a meaningless training match?
This would only make sense if the link to Besiktas was from the Turkish version of Caught Offside or Tribal Football, and Arteta had no intention of letting him go.
Aaahh…..just another shitsville day at the office.
If all this stuff was happening to any other club – especially our so-called ‘rivals’, I know for certain that I’d be laughing my nuts off…..
I wouldn’t have minded a loan signing for Pjanic. He might not fit the age profile but would have brought experience a bit of composure to our midfield.
Partey £50 million on a player who cant play more than 3 games in a row. Well done Arsenal 👏👏👏
I swear the rumours were absolute rubbish anyway. We’re short enough in midfield as it is.