Hector Bellerin’s hamstring troubles show little sign of abating with the Spaniard still being assessed by the Arsenal medical team.
The right-back hasn’t featured for the Gunners since the defeat to Brighton on 5 December (that’s two head coaches ago!) and has made only seven appearances in total this campaign.
We don’t know for sure, but it definitely sounds like the type of niggly problem you pick up when you’ve been sidelined for a long time. You’ll remember that Bellerin underwent ACL surgery in January 2019 and didn’t make his comeback until late September.
Mikel Arteta’s only other absentees ahead of Saturday’s tricky trip to Crystal Palace are long-term absentees Calum Chambers and Kieran Tierney.
The former has undergone surgery on his own ACL issue and will miss the rest of the season, while the latter is due to return to training in March after dislocating his shoulder in December.
Mainland-Niles can make a serious claim to that position and I’d back him for it under Arteta. Love Bellerin but he hasn’t been himself the last couple of seasons.
I so much muss Sagna. That was another level of consistency in physicality and work rate.
I like AMN but Hector is a strong character and an exceptional player on his best firm, definitely captain material for me. I hope he manages to come back to his best.
Has he completed one season in jury free?
Time to invest in full backs who are not just mercurial stylists. Hopefully Arteta can see the futility of having to rely on Hector and Tierney as our first choice FBs
I bet you’re the same sort of person who would argue we should’ve held on to Santi for longer but got Diaby off our books sooner.
and what sort of person are you? a fixated sycophant who cant see past his girlish infatuations.
He should be sold, hes been on the treatment table more than he has played.
‘a fixated sycophant who cant see past his girlish infatuations’
That escalated quickly. I bet you’d pick Thesaurus over Gunnersaurus. Classic red-brick casual.
you idiot Tierney just arrived and he was injured before. his current injury is an accident and could happen to anyone if it was like Eric Bailly i would agree with that, but it’s not.
I’m the idiot? Im the one who paid for a perrenial sick note who is untested in a top flight league.
“He arrived injured” no he was BOUGHT injured.
And now we are going to have to buy another one.
Real big brain behaviour right there
You really understand the meaning of intelligence
Easy with the name calling bud, it’s not that sort of site.
Tierney played 168 games in the last 4 seasons at Celtic. It’s hardly the record of a perennial sick note.
I was calling bellerin a sick note and you a bum sucking brown nose.
Just to clarify
well it was fun while it lasted wasnt it?
i wonder if you can get a reply in before the banhammer hits?
Narrator: No, no he couldn’t.
How can I compete with the mature intellect of a person calling themselves Fart Overjars who trades insults like “bum sucking brown nose”?
You sir are the Noam Chomsky of preschool discourse. I bow to your infant intellect.
Go home Danny Mills
Bellerin has played 44, 42 and 47 games in the three seasons before he got injured. In the same period our other full back (non-vegan Nacho Monreal in his prime) played 45, 43 and 38 games. So yes Bellerin is a perennial sick and has been on the treatment table more than he has played- a very intelligent conclusion indeed!
Pure speculation and opinion. Vegans face this often. Their plant protein sources aren’t absorbed very efficiently on per gram basis. While meat and eggs convert at more than 90%.
This is as scientific as Bingo, vegans face this no more, or less than non-vegans.
That’s very misleading.
Vegans have massive problems with getting proper nutrition. It’s a very unhealthy lifestyle
Jack wilshere, Abou Diaby, Thomas Rosicky, all are vegans… RvP was also vegan when he was injured on and off for years, then he started eating meat ?
Hector is vegan?!
ERGH
How dare a person eat the way they want.
Wenger imposed good nutrition, Emery banned or reduced orange juice for players. How dare players eat the way they want?
It’s not like he’s out eating burgers and pizzas and drinking beer.
“It’s not like he’s out eating burgers and pizzas and drinking beer”. Sad fact of the matter is he’d probably be better off eating those things than he would eating what he does… hash browns, baked beans, wheat/gluten and soy all day (his YouTube vids show him eating that crap). I’m sorry to rant about this but I’ve personally seen family members and close friends become physically & mentally ill after going vegan.
sorry to break it to you, but according to science it’s unlikely their getting ill had much to do with their veganism. ESPECIALLY mental illness. that’s utter horseshite.
I’m sure the sports science team at Arsenal are on top of this. I was at the stadium for Liverpool last season and had a quick chat with Shad Forsyth before the game and he was pretty placid in the topic.
There are plant sources like soy that have complete amino acid profiles and for the ones that don’t you can simply add an ingredient with the complementary amino acids.
It could be coincidence, but injury’s aside, Hector hasn’t looked as fast/explosive as the season he broke through. Could be the diet. Vegan diets work for some people, rarely professional athletes.
“injuries aside”
yes, let’s ignore the ruptured ACL, great logic!
Not sure about “injury aside.” He blew out his knee, did not play for a year. You know, Occam’s razor.
Heard of Lewis Hamilton? The six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton?
meat and ‘eggs’ get their protein from a plant based diet and actually act is inhibitors to protein-synthesis in the human body – but sure.
one imagines that as a professional sportsman he is aware of the importance of nutrition, and as such takes dietary advice from professionals at the club
You should tell Tom Brady. Maybe he’ll play until he’s 45 and win 7 or 8 Superbowls if he starts eating meat.
I mentioned this on here before when Hector first got injured and got crucified for questioning his dietary choices. He is 100% entitled to eat what he wants but as a professional being paid mega money I feel he should do what right for his body at this stage of his career. For as long as he stays a nutritionally deficient vegan he’ll suffer physically and will never be the player he was/could have been, I said this 2 years ago. The evidence is out there if people choose to research it and not be so narrow minded & ignorant.
See you next Tuesday.
How wreckless of Hector to eat all of those vegatables and plant proetin. You’d think he’d respect his body being a professional footballer.
And before all the pro vegans start banging on about plant proteins being equal to animal proteins (which still isn’t true, but anyhow). Please let everyone know where a vegan gets the crucial fat soluble vitamins A, E, D3 & K2 from? Plus where they get the all important omega 3’s EPA & DHA ( btw flax and chia seeds hardly convert to either of the active forms).
suppliments?
fortified foods?
the tears of the meat eaters who cant handle someone different?
Goonerink, if someone has to ‘fortify’ or ‘suppliment’ their diet then that should already be enough proof that their diet is deficient in what the body needs to function appropriately. I’m a meat eater, I can handle someone who chooses to eat differently to myself (each to their own), but what really irks me is seeing a super talent like Hector Bellerin not flourish quite like he could by eating a diet which is clearly not doing his body any good. He’s been duped, ethics aside, veganism makes zero sense.
Ethics aside, I have a great plan for us to go top.
Though I will need someone to lend me some rope, a shovel and lots of carpets.
Side note, does anyone know how many…rolled up carpets you can fit in a Daewoo?
Jack wilshere, Abou Diaby, Thomas Rosicky, all are vegans… RvP was also vegan when he was injured on and off for years, then he started eating meat 😉
Fullbacks are for pussies! Hah, that’s a bummer man I feel sorry for him, I’m also embarrassed about the arsenal fans writing him off all the time, he’ll be back and he’ll be great!
No point in keeping a player on squad if they cannot play,surely over 12 months is time enough, time now for a permanent replacement
He has a hamstring strain, not a terminal illness
Logic doesn’t stop half of the fanbase from going into an internet meltdown blogs!
One of the funniest short replies I have ever seen.
This chat section has been very entertaining for the ‘neutral’ reader. Derailing from the article to name-calling to veganism. I actually forgot what the original piece was about!
Hopefully Tierney injuring his shoulder will help his legs/hip problems. Given he can strengthen his bottom half whilst resting his top
I love you glass half full attitude! ?
I think he will respond very well to Arteta once he is fit – has played with him, intelligent and great passing ability, plus very quick.
Come back soon Hector.
Worrisome. Was surprised we risked Kolasinac on left side considering his own issues with ankle. BUT Bellerin continues to struggle for fitness. AMN has been decent given third bite of the cherry. Don’t understand those who continue to say this is not his “Natural position”. Pundits continue to spew out this nugget of a red herring despite AMN playing as a fullback for 3 seasons + now…go figure. I’m not sure why Sokratis started at Rback against Leeds. To me, we need a stable partnership at Cback. AMN and Mustafi available as Rbacks. Holding was poor on the day with… Read more »
Will be interesting to see how he’s used when fit, the “inverted fullback roles” seems to suit AMN more than it would Bellerin.
I didn’t realize there are so many expert nutritionists on this site that know whats best for all athletes…yet i bet none of you are actually sports nutritionists. hmmmmm smh.
Yeah, that’s how it is I guess.
There are also many football experts on here, yet I bet no one has an UEFA Pro license. And no one claims to have.
On here are people of all walks of life giving their opinion in a comment section. This is not a site that claims to give nutrition tips to pro athletes, nor tactical tips for football managers and I am very sure there are no athletes or managers looking for solid info on such topics on here.