Arsene Wenger has confirmed that the Gunners did not pick up any injuries during their 3-0 win over Olympiakos meaning the same squad of players will be available for Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa.
There had been a doubt pre-game in Athens about Mesut Ozil’s calf, while Olivier Giroud went over on his ankle before netting the second goal of his hat-trick. Both men are fit as the Christmas schedule picks up pace.
Of the players currently sidelined, Alexis Sanchez is the candidate to return first, however, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky, Danny Welbeck and Francis Coquelin won’t be back until after Christmas.
Somewhat worryingly, the boss was quite emphatic about ruling Wilshere out for at least another three weeks: “There’s no chance he will be fit before the end of December,” was the boss’ assessment.
“He is quite positive,” was the update on Rosicky. “He is running outside but not ready yet. End of January.”
Santi Cazorla was ruled out for up to four months earlier in the week.
Respect the oppo Arsenal.
Even if you should beat them 9 times out of 10.
Great news! 3 points, and decent draw in the champs league this weekend please.
It’s bad when we come to the point of seeing 0 injuries from a game as great news!
Lol welcome to Arsenal.
Comment:relief on ozil
What’s with the word “comment” before your comment?
I see people doing it a lot on here and I was just wondering if it’s some internet fad that I missed.
comment: yes
Cement: Fuck, I haven’t got the hang of it yet!!
Seems pretty solid to me!
You keep your golden shower fantasies to yourself.
Bring Remi’s Garde down. Though they’ve shown very less of it off late. COYG!
I think we should rest Mesut and Monreal for this one.
Why? There’s no mid-week game.
And we don’t play again until the following Monday.
Exactly. A proper rest: Comment: bugger!
Rosicky is still alive it seems.
He really disappeared of the map.
TR7 :BOW:
And the news is: there is no news.
I’m surprised Arteta is out for so long though. I thought his injury was something minor at the time, but now it seems like he’ll barely be back before Coquelin.
What are the odds on ozil getting a calf strain against Villa?
Indeed, he deserves a rest. Even if he plays, it would be wise to get him off early. The team can do well without him for much of the game against Villa.
I wouldn’t be too sure of that. Outside Özil, atm we have very little in the way of creative, game changers available to choose from. Ramsey can sort of play that role at times, but not without a complimentary player since he’s more box to box. this is where having Wilshire or Rosicky would have been extremely helpful to rotate out özil, but with the need for three points to stay in the race, we need to play him until we are sure we have the win in our hands.
Fair point. Indeed, we are short of options due to the injuries. Considering its Villa, we could effectively kill the game early, and allow our Ozil and Monreal to rest and recover in time for another stressful run. I watched Barca play on Wednesday with many reserve players. 7? or 5? But I was impressed by the attitude of these reserve players. They totally owned the pitch, much to the dismay of the Germans. If we are to learn from them, we should be able to cover for these two players after we have scored two or three goals. It’s… Read more »
Don’t forget he had a two week rest when he didn’t go away on international duty a few weeks back so he is probably fresher than most, no rest for our Mesut
It’s all in the mind boys. On paper we are superior. Get the ball down and pass it. Move it Dixon, you lazy so-and-so. Oi Parlour, up your game, mate. Sort em out at half-time Georgie. Get it to Wrighty quicker. Come on Nige, pass it with your right, son. Tony! Tony Adams ooo ooo….Tony! Tony Adams ooo ooo….
Wilshere will be like a new signing in January
Any time an Arsenal player goes to ground, it really is a case of hands over the eyes and thinking A) is he injured B)how long will he be out for.
Also I also have a gripe about how our injury crisis is always big news when the likes of Citeh and other teams of that nature have an injury crisis on par with us or worse.
Seems the journos like having a spunk-fest when it comes to criticising The Gunners.
Anyway onwards and upwards #COYG
Do the opposite of what that nause Benitez used to do, namely start with your best XI then if winning after an hour sub your best player (Ozil) so as not to get him crocked and concentrate on successfully defending a lead against the worst team in the league.
Do not underestimate a struggling team at the bottom. We need to do the business first then rest the players We want to keep pushing ahead with the advantage we now have lying second. We don’t want to peak too soon so its great Leicester is slightly ahead but its even better we have a slender margin ahead of the main rivals which surely this season must be City and to some extent United. Play the starters now first. They need to gain some fluency with each other. In particular Rammini needs to find their equilibrium with each other and… Read more »
Ox should be able to get some time with this game which will be useful for him. He needs to be more careful and less naive with his defensive side. BUt he has massive potential and he needs the time in the game to improve so I won’t be surprise if he has a bigger role in this game. When he was subbed off against Olympiakos you can see he was dissapointed with his impact in the game. He’s an intelligent lad and he looked like he was trying to assess where he could have done better. We will need… Read more »
Comment: Same team that started against Olympiacos, please.
Haha. I imagined Rosicky running outside the press conference room and waving to the journos.