Arsene Wenger has revealed the latest team news ahead of Sunday’s trip to Crystal Palace.
After missing out on the opening day, Hector Bellerin is back in the squad and should return to the right back position.
Alexis Sanchez is, after his late cameo and a full week’s training, ‘ready to play’, according to the Arsenal manager.
However, Danny Welbeck remains sidelined, and Wenger confirmed the news that Tomas Rosicky has had surgery on his knee.
Jack Wilshere is still recovering from his hairline fracture, with Wenger saying, “We said Jack would be out for four weeks, and he’s in the second week now so he’s on schedule.”
oh deary me, I love Rosicky so much that it physically hurts in my chest when he’s injured. So i guess i can call myself an Rosicky-lover.
Was thinking to write “#Nohomo”, but who am i kidding? everyone gets a little homo when seeing Rosicky.
It’s the hair. I just wanna run my fingers through it <3
Havent forgotten the pain opening game defeat. But u guys have cheered me up.
Im not buying Welbeck ‘bruised’ his knee or whatever….hes been out for way too long. Wtf is going on….anyone?
I’m guessing meniscus or mild compression fracture. I had one of the latter on my lateral condyle a while back, and it took a bit to feel good and confident. I don’t wear studs on turf anymore. Not even the middle sized ones. They get stuck in and jam your joints.
Yeah, I know, I’m all sunshine and roses.
When you bruise a bone, and not muscle, it’s actually quite a substantial injury. I bruised my tibia (about 7 years ago) right where it joins the kneecap and strained my ACL at the same time. And of course since I’m not a regular Colney medical attendee, it’s an injury that has left my knee pretty much in shit condition.
fyi http://www.enkivillage.com/bruised-bone.html
What the fuck are you talking about!?
I love Rosicky as well — always been a favorite — but the club should have given in to his wishes and let him go this summer (there were rumors of a stint in the MLS). He turns 35 this fall, but he didn’t want to spend another season on the bench. As it is, we’re now paying a player who won’t even play when he returns from a lengthy recovery, and then will in all likelihood leave next summer anyway, at which point he’ll find fewer suitors than he had this summer. Really wish I could understand the club’s… Read more »
If he wasn’t happy, why did he sign it?
Arsenal had the option to extend his contract and exercised it – it wasn’t his choice.
We really missed Hector against West Ham. Hoping for a convincing 3 points against Palace! Anything less and it’ll be meltdown in the comments section again.
Gotta say, the last thing I thought watching that game was ‘you know what would really turn this around? A different RB’.
Good to see him back though.
Well, i’m just saying that it didn’t help that Debuchy wasn’t ready for that game. But if we had WCS, he would have scored 6 goals, while simultaneously stopping world hunger.
It didn’t help, but I don’t think we particularly missed Hector, he’s more likely to score a goal than Debuchy, I guess. That would have been handy.
I think we missed Bellerin’s runs down the flanks. Debuchy was a little cautious and did not help to open the game up or create more width.
Palace should not be taken lightly; they’ve been very hot since making that guy who used to wear short shorts with the funny white hair their coach.
A bit better communication and coverage between the LB and LCB might’ve been nice though!
Why do Monreal and Gibbs keep getting beat on their post for those things?? They’re not poor defenders, there has to be something not working. I do wonder why our shortest defenders are marking the back post runner on a play like that.
Ok, enough already! Bring on those who shall bear the brunt of this!
I will donate my xbox to poor kids in Africa if Wilshere remains injury free for the rest of the season. And other players too for that matter.
I’m sure there are many poor kids in India as well …u could donate it to them
Make sure to donate your TV as well, poor kids have no use of Xbox alone
Us Africans prefer the playstation over x-box.Its easier to root them.Don’t worry about sending a telly though,the shipping and customs charges make it cheaper to just buy it here.
So you’d prefer him to send money then!
Rather than all the agro transferring money, he could just send his bank details (I have loads of emails telling me this is OK 😀 )
You wouldn’t happen to be Nigerian of a princely disposition, would you?
Nah,bruh.Am Kenyan…like Obama,lol!
How about donating to poor kids in India instead? Let Africa develop its own industry, and save the carbon costs of flying an xbox over. Who needs an xbox anyway when there are no basics, like reliable electricity supply?
Send to India instead mate. Much needed there
Nice idea – if they have electricity…
I’m poor…
Can I sue him for defamation, anyone? On a serious note, this is not cool dude.
So my Alexis is now fully match-fit! Bring on Palace!
#COYG
Bellerin looks like Vegeta in that pic. About to turn Super Saiyan?
Yh…personally he reminds me of them troll toys with bright green and red hair and freakish looking grin that my sister used to collect. Yep
Your “sister.” Mmhmmm.
Bellerin. Sorely missed last week. I like debuchy but nowhere near as mobile and important to our width.
I now wonder whether Wenger will switch to the Theo/Sanchez combination which wreaked havoc tail end of last season and also throw ox into the mix.
But that would mean Giroud in the bench.
Let’s tear Palace a new one. COME ON!
The one who worries me more is welbeck! Apart from squad depth we barely miss him. And before you go hyper because I talked about a home grown player come to think of it : When Giroud had that injury we signed him and if he had come in and done a striker’s job we wouldn’t be needing one. Galatasary and that gift from Valencia define his time with us. Work rate? every British player bar Theo, harshly, is said to posses it. Truth is he still scored as many as Falcao the flop or what Mr no end product… Read more »
Welbeck is a good squad player capable of doing a job on the flanks and through the middle. He was also a bit unlucky last season and could have scored another half a dozen goals if things had gone his way. Perhaps he isn’t the new Henry as initially hoped, but still a decent player to have around.
Reading your comment I can’t help but be utterly bemused by your lack of understanding. Welbeck contributes massively with his work rate. It’s nothing to do with nationality, he runs his ass off and that’s not to be sniffed at. Add to that his pace, directness and decent touch and he’s really not that far away. His finishing needs some work maybe. Or maybe he just needs to bang a few away and find his mojo.
“runs his arse off” – “not to be sniffed at”. Methinks you speak in code!
I really like Welbeck. It’s not just that he runs around a lot. He defends from the front, constantly closing opposition defenders down. It makes us hard to play against when their defence gets no time on the ball. Add a few more goals to his game, which he will, and he’ll be a great player. He did miss a lot of games through injury last season, don’t forget. And I think when he came back he wasn’t quite 100%. IHCSF (ha!) he’ll be decent, you watch.
And we did not miss Wilshere or Walcott either last season but that does not mean they are not valuable to the squad.
Danny got 14 gaols last season between club and country, he validly plays left, center forward or right and hustles better than any other English forward. I want to see Welbeck utilized this season and honestly think he offers more to the team than a few other players.
The idea he is surplus to requirement is stupid.
Coffee on my keyboard moment
Under normal circumstances, a team of Cech, Bell, Mert, Kos and Monreal; Coq, Cazorla,Ozil, Ox, Giroud and Alexis should be too much for CP. I have not made room for Walcott and Ramsey and it possible they start (though I don’t know who would make room for Ramsey). But we are looking at a team still reeling from the shock of Sunday and may be a little short on confidence. I hope we put in a great performance and come away with the points and a good goal margin. That will steady things a bit and then we can use… Read more »
Someone will make room for Ramsey that’s for sure. The boss seems obsessed with him. I would drop him for sure. Cech had a mare but if Ramsey plays the simple pass to debuchy we then have a 4 v 2 in their box. He went for the Hollywood goal once more. It may have been different result. It was so fucking selfish. Santi Ozil any team player plays the pass.
Wilshere having a hairline fracture sounds like him going bald.
Appreciate the humour, but hairline fracture, which basically are stress fracture caused by fatigue and overuse, if Wilshere gets this kind if injuries from preseason football, it gets me really worried
They’re not all stress fractures, you can get them from impact just as well. It simply means bones were not displaced or splintered or broken fully through. A crack, basically. It was from a collision on the practice pitch.
Is Ospina ready???
I really hope Cazorla starts in his natural central midfield position, now that Alexis is back. Wenger should be making some difficult choices dropping someone in the place of a player who can play in his natural position. It would be great to see Ox/Walcott on the right instead of Ramsey.
It takes a while for a player to get used to the new position when he is played not in his natural position. We can see that in many games. Lack of moment, lack of attacking creativity.
Just Dont play Ramsey and we are fine.
It’s great that Alexis is fit, but not so great that we so badly need him to be fit. The man needs a rest
We have the squad that should be just fine against Palace without him! But I suppose some match time with non-league-contenders might be good before he goes into a bigger match. I just hope is batteries are recharged sufficiently for a full season.
Shoulda been fine about WH too…and look how that turned out. 🙁
Yes, we Should have been fine without him. If we were playing West Ham again this weekend I would again expect that this squad should beat them without him on the pitch. No, they didn’t, and that is an unacceptable performance because they sure should have. They are better than that and they need to start playing like it.
But they all know that without me saying it.
Little more on topic than on the Rosicky page because we are talking about the team for C. Palace here: I am sorry, I can’t be arsed to register on the main website (or rather, look up my lost password). I wanted to acknowledge Tim Stillman @stillberto ‘s excellent and always thought provoking columns. Again today, he has pointed out something that was visible in the game against West Ham. Read the column for the details, but essentially, the question boils down to this: who partners Coquelin in the center? Ramsey or Cazorla? Stillman called this in an earlier post… Read more »
Good post. I become increasingly concerned that a couple of players are not progressing, Ramsey for one. He is a great player but lacks discipline and is given a free reign by Wenger to his detriment. His roaming the ground (the positional chart proves his inclination to attempt to play No10 against West Ham) does incremental damage across the pitch. He offers less support to Coquelin, who ‘by chance’ has a bad game. He crowds Ozil in the no10 spot, who ‘by chance’ had a bad game. He displaces Cazorla (first half) who ‘by chance’ had a bad game. The… Read more »
I couldn’t agree with you more! I was so pissed with the pairing and wondered what was going on in the head of Arsene Wenger. It essentially forced Coq to often try some “hail Mary” passes that went awry. Coq and Cazorla pairing is no-brainer: Coq does the dirty work, get the ball and simply pass it to Cazorla to work his magic. At this stage of their development, I think it is very risky to play both Ramsey and Ox in tough games – both are risk takers who are prone to losing possession. If Cazorla or Coq is… Read more »
Just so I’m not only negative, here is a simple set up depending on the style we go with. Community Shield type game: Ox, Coq, Cazorla OR Ramsey, Alexis, Ozil, Walcott (the rest need to learn to play Walcott in on the counter). West Ham type game: Ox, Coq, Cazorla, Alexis, Ozil, Giroud (they will not come out, make giroud hold his position and bring others in, and more width please). And here’s another controversial suggestion: If we are really pressed for defensive work against a great side (a counterattacking set up), drop Ozil for Cazorla. if the whole squad… Read more »
hector back to give us some width down the right, was greatly missed opening day. Rest of the squad a little fitter and sharper hopefully.
#WINSTREAK
If Chamberlain loses possession that leads to goal one more time I’ll get on the field and injure him myself. Now let’s Show the world there is only one Arsenal
Nothing wrong with losing the ball, it is what you do after losing it. Ox should learn from Sanchez or risks being benched.
Happy Bellerin is back. And please Wenger, play Carzola in the middle alongside Coq instead of Ramsey. Just stick with the same effective formation that served us well the latter part of last season.