In the final stages of yesterday’s 1-1 draw with Southampton, Aaron Ramsey pulled up with a hamstring strain.
He stayed on the pitch as Arsenal sought a winner, but ultimately the game finished in a draw.
Afterwards, Arsene Wenger gave an update on the problem, saying, “He has a hamstring problem.
“In the last 10 or 12 minutes if we had him fully fit it would have helped.”
Ramsey has been one of the team’s best players in recent weeks, and although Jack Wilshere is fit again and pushing for a Premier League start, the other options remain unconvincing.
Both Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny have become fringe players, appearing mostly in the Europa League, but the manager will hope that the match sharpness they have will come in useful if they’re required for any period of time.
The Welshman is set for further tests on his hamstring today, but even a mild strain could see him miss three weeks – a real blow at what is the busiest time of the year.
If he is absent for that long, he could miss the games against West Ham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Crystal Palace and West Brom – with perhaps the Chelsea game as the target for his return.
Fingers crossed it’s not as bad as that, and we have had a couple of nice injury surprises recently so let’s hope for one more.
Check out today’s Arseblog: Southampton 1-1 Arsenal – Sterile Domination
We need to shake up the midfield for West Ham. Wilshere of course, will get his long deserved start owing to Ramsey’s hammy. Maybe elneny should come on for Xhaka. I know Mo divides opinion, but he is good with his passes, quick, seems to love the club, and gives it his all, always. What is it with Ramsey and his fitness? It almost seems like tempting fate praising his fitness and everything. Hopefully he comes back soon. Kos could do with a rest. Holding has been solid so far this season when given the chance. I also think Sanchez… Read more »
Agree with everything you say, but I’d throw Maitland-Niles in instead of Elneny.
Maybe a bit extreme, but I really think he deserves a chance and from what I’ve seen, he looks better than Elneny.
If there is any doubt to Aaron’s fitness at all he should be rested for the trip to Upton Park. We cannot afford to lose him for any long period. So if they say he’s fit and able to start against West Ham, he better be. Can’t have him making something worse and then being out until February/March time. I know he is a player that divides a lot of opinion, but he does create so many goals for us, and he is our only real genuine goal threat from central midfield. Throw Jack in the mix with Granit, I’d… Read more »
Why should we have to “protect” Xhaka by playing a midfield three? It’s not like he’s one of our best players and we need to form our team for him.
Exactly. Unless he shows that he’s worth it there is no reason to use a formation to protect him. He needs to adjust his game to the formation and partner at hand.
You won’t know a players worth unless you get the best out of him with a good formation and tactic. Ramsey divides opinions because he simply cannot be counted on for the team. He regularly forsakes his midfield responsibilities and midfield partner by scampering ahead of our striker whenever we get the ball thereby successfully negating any build up from our midfield and we’re a possession based team that looks to build up from the back. How ironic is that? And that’s why our attack is so poor. Our midfield is bare and Xhaka and our CBs have lesser passing… Read more »
Also to add, Gilberto would have been a nothing player, or even Petit without the right setup. Who knows. But it’s the same why we can’t write off certain players just because they seem shite. Also didn’t a certain Russian playmaker turned out bad because he was shunted our wide instead of taking a central attacking position?
We look more vulnerable with back 5.
Elneny is not quick. It’s his greatest failing. He has a great motor and tries hard but he’s slow, slow, slow just like the other lad with the Basel background.
Having said that West Ham are tough, physical, fast, and mean as a snake. While they have vastly underachieved so far they just beat Chelsea and will want another big scalp. I’d rather the slow guy with heart than Maitland-Niles whose courage has yet to be tested like this.
Westham are tough, physical, fast, mean as a snake, and shite as fuck!
Holding has been solid? Lol have you watched any of the Prem games with him starting? Hes been awful with consistency.
What does loving the club have anything to do with giving a player minutes?
So much for adapting his body to the premier league… Bring on Jacky boy!
Just when he starts talking about adapting his body his hamstring goes pop again, the muppet.
so they should be, he,s our best player by far
Oh, yes, Özil must surely sweating too in the hope to stop tracking back and doing Ramsey’s job when he wants to have fun ahead of Lacazette.
Time to switch to a 4-3-3 then. Coq, Wilshere and Xhaka or Xhaka, Elneny, Iwobi as our midfield 3 with AOL upfront. Ramsey will be a massive massive miss.
Lack of Options? We have Maitland Niles who is quick ,strong and technically good plus having played in defense in all our Europa league games and the league cup will not be defensively naive or remiss he also seems to have good stamina which is required in that position! We have Wilshere who could do a job there short term might I add that he would go forward more quickly than Ramsey who often slows play down by unessacary turning instead of playing forward quickly and keeping the momentum of an attack going
We’ve got a be a little more pragmatic with the number of games we have coming up. It’s midweek, weekend for the next month or so. Yes, Jack should start say 3-4 of the next 7, but we need to be sensible though and not break him.
Also, speaking of options, interesting that Maitland-Niles was on the bench on Sunday ahead of Elneny or any of the the defenders. Could more than fill a void during the festive period
I’ve never thought he was in our best 11 anyway. If we put him on the market none of the top 6 would be interested
40 million for Oxlade-Chamberlain, with only a year left on his contract.
Seems to me he should have just come off. Hamstring is about three weeks, a bad one is a Rosickian nightmare. He should have just come off though I like the attitude. Hope the same Ramsey comes back as well because he is playing so well at the moment.
Despite what the article says, I believe that we have the depth needed to cover this injury. Jack will hopefully get his chance and although the other options like Mo and Coq are not as talented as Ramsey, they actually may offer more stability to our midfield and free up a Xhaka or Jack more.
I predict we go undefeated up to the Chelski game. Hopefully they are all wins and as little draws as possible.
Each Arsenal writer I’ve ever somewhat followed has their unique and often quirky preferences with certain players, but this guys love for Aaron Ramsey knows no bounds lol I literally cannot believe the bias I read on here sometimes. I really feel for Xhaka, it’s virtually impossible to run a midfield on your own in a team like Arsenal. I think his quality will come out but hopefully not too late.. hopefully jack can get a good run in now and we can see if I’m wrong
Xhaka just isn’t that good. He’s only showed during the last 10 games last season his quality. Besides that he’s been inconsistent during his short Arsenal career.