Mikel Arteta has confirmed that Emile Smith Rowe will miss Arsenal’s clash with FC Zurich having sat out training this week after experiencing “discomfort” in the aftermath of Sunday’s 3-1 defeat to Manchester United.
It was reported earlier in the week that the England international pulled up in the warm down at Old Trafford with a groin issue.
Arteta on Smith Rowe:
He felt some discomfort again in an area that he’s been dealing with now for a few weeks. He hasn’t trained in the last few days so he’s out of the squad. https://t.co/P4O308cfDK— Kaya Kaynak (@kayakaynak97) September 7, 2022
Smith Rowe is yet to start a game this season and missed much of pre-season. He has been plagued with niggly issues all year and has only completed 90 minutes twice in 2022.
As expected, Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny are also missing from the travelling party. The Gunners are expected to rotate some players but given the resources at Arteta’s disposal, wholesale changes are unlikely.
After making his debut on Sunday as a substitute, Fabio Vieira looks to be in line for more playing time.
“Hopefully you’re gonna see a lot more of him in the next few weeks and I’m sure you’re going to enjoy,” said Arteta.
Unexpected but still disappointing
Do you mean expected?
We’re really skating on thin ice injury-wise between now and the World Cup. We need to be lucky and we don’t exactly have a track record of that. Every hard challenge on our key players is going to be wince-inducing from now on.
If we don’t qualify for top four, it will be down to the corruption of VAR, disallowed Arsenal goals and bent incompetent refs who will give no protection to our players from the fucking Neanderthals masquerading as Premiership footballers who, game by game, are already kicking our lads up in the air.
When I remember JW10 and Diaby, I can’t help but panic over ESR’s continued run ins with these so called “discomforts”.
I don’t feel it’s the same. Diaby and Jack where impact injuries at first. Seem like ESR just needs time to get his body right!!
Rosicky, then.
You beat me to it! Rosicky 2.0 is not less worrying either. A massive talent but never really reached the height we all knew he could no thanks to persistent niggles. Hope not!
Interesting thing to say about Vieira. I doubt MA would say that if he wasn’t excited about him. Can’t wait to see what he’s all about. Hopefully a more likable, left footed Bruno but without being a flaming turd. If that’s the case “Enjoy Vieira™“ will be easy.
I think he did well against Utd considering the circumstances. An Ozilesque pass to Martinelli, a daring volley from 30 yards out. He’s less Bruno and more Bernardo, or so I hope.
That pass had me purring. I think it poses an interesting dilemma on the physical profile of a player when signing a 6 for us. We’re smaller in midfield with him and bigger in the back with Saliba and Gabriel. When someone like rashford makes a slashing run, it’s not as easy for those guys to change direction compared to someone like Ben White(who nearly made an excellent tackle on one of the rashford goals). Maybe I’m overthinking it but I feel we need an agile yet strong 6 with excellent technique to play Artetaball. There’s plenty of those around,… Read more »
Danilo I think is the man they want
Imagine something like
Turner
Tierney
Holding
White
Tomi
Xhaka
Lakonga
Martinelli
Vieira
Saka
Nketiah
???
I’d like to see Marquinos start in Zurich too, which would basically be rotating as much as possible, with current injuries. Can’t see us giving Matt Smith his first start
But I have a feeling Arteta won’t do that & he’ll surprise us with a pretty strong line up
8 down votes and I was only 2 players wrong, ha!
Mark my words. This will be the worst injury hit season for all the teams that have players involved in Europe and the world Cup. Also this January transfer window will be the busiest ever. Hopefully we can get a few more players in the window. Not sure letting Pepe or AMN going on loan was a smart idea given our injury situation. We really don’t have a solid 2nd team to cover each position.
We needed Pepe and AMN off the books, period.
Love those two but if we want to be active in the winter window we had to make sacrifices
Yes now they are off the books and we can’t rotate or rest our key players. Hope the books are happy.
Unfortunately, not a total surprise is it. We need as many fit players as possible from the squad given the busy schedule but it doesn’t look like we’ll see ESR for a while. Zurich are (on paper at least) the weakest side in the group so, hopefully, he won’t be missed that much. Also, I read that they’re actually playing “away” as well because their ground is being used for an athletics meeting so the fixture has been moved to a nearby stadium. Not sure if that’s true, but if it is it’s a little odd.
Let’s hope the lad makes a swift recovery, both for himself and the team. Six games in and our boys are already getting kicked up in the air with little or no protection from the so-called refs. That’s before we have even stuck the ball in the net, only to have it ruled out because the cunts operating VAR and conning the world that they’re impartial officials, all hate the Arsenal. Arteta, like George Graham and Arsene before him, can galvanise both the players and the fans to close ranks, turn the Emirates into a fortress and the Away Boys… Read more »
Sell him while he still has value.
Otherwise we will have to let him go for free like Wilshere, Ramsey, Walcott etc