Arsene Wenger has given us the latest update on the Arsenal injury situation and while the Frenchman had to admit that he is still largely in the dark as to the return date of some of the crocked Gunners like Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck, there was some very good news for Arsenal fans.
The most encouraging piece of news was on the fitness of the fierce French defensive midfield star Francis Coquelin, who picked up some knee ligament damage in the Premier League defeat to West Brom towards the end of November. The original prognosis was that Coquelin would be out for 12 weeks and that could still be the case but the news reported by Metro is that he is already running again and that is very positive.
The sooner the Gunners have Le Coq back in the middle, the better, even though Mathieu Flamini and Calum Chambers have filled in for him admirably so far. However, I would not feel too good about either of them having to cope with the likes of Neymar and Messi when Barcelona come to town for the Champions League knockout stage at the end of February.
But if Coquelin is already running he will surely be back in good time to face the Catalan club and he could even have his usual midfield partner Santi Cazorla back alongside him when he does.
Wenger said, “Francis Coquelin is starting to run, Santi Cazorla will be back in mid-February, and Mikel Arteta is back now.”
That is a huge boost to our Champions League hopes, of course, and should make our chances of winning the Premier League title significantly higher as well, assuming Arsenal do not falter before then. Happy New Year Gooners!
Is this Spanish beauty the reason for Bellerin’s drop in form?
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I suspect the thumbs down are for calling Flamini and Ramsey disasters rather than anyone disagreeing that Coquelin and Carloza are the starters when healthy.
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Thumbs down are for the blatant contradiction.
“Flam and Ramsey have deputized well”
vs.
“they are a disaster”
Those 2 statements are opposites. If they deputized “well’ they are then they are NOT a disaster.
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Maybe he (@SoOpa AeoN) meant to say: ”They are disaster-in-awaiting”
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Arteta is back. Yay!
I honestly swear he seems to just throw points away for us. Past his best, its a shame. Great player, so I think he still has the ability to win, but his mentality needs to sharpen up too.
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Wenger somehow still has confidence in him but……
it is time for him to retire now. He cannot get Arsenal to the promised land.
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Arteta being back is bad news, as Wenger will use him from time to time, and the old git will lose us points as he did throughout the season. Arteta, please retire.
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That’s great news indeed to know that they are returning soon! A major boost! Coyg!
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funny how the same team who coudn’t manage our boy gnarby are considering another Loan option in debuchy……. I’d say gnarby should mark the end of our business relationship with em…….if debuchy must be Offloaded, then do it with Psg(who are interested as they may Lose van der wiel) instead for some cool money!
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@SA
Serge did that to himself. Pulis is a no nonsense manager who drives his players hard. Serge couldn’t even cut it in their youth squad. Says a lot about Gnabry. Plus dude looks like he’s carrying extra weight…
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Apparently that was the reason he didn’t play – completely unfit. Which kind of pisses me off – when you’re being paid so much money to play football the least you can do is have the energy to run around a pitch.
I loved Gnabry when he was playing but can’t really blame Pulis for not picking a chubby, largely untested youngester
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@NYG……..u might be right……. Gnarby’s currently a balloon…….. But um……. Psg’s offer would be something to Lick the lips abt…….but if it comes down to a permanent sale for debuchy….. Any suitor may be considered!
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Hahaha………. This is new Bob……… No click bait articles today?
Admin must have sat u down in the Office and pulled ur ears hard with a stern warning! L()L
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Look Soopa and Muff and everyone else. Anyone who wants to complain about my titles please do a PROPER assessment of say the last 20/50/100 articles and send me a list of the so-called click-bait headlines. Give me a REAL percentage and we can discuss this sensibly.
In fact if there was ONE yesterday and NONE today that already means 1 out 20…..
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Look Soopa and Muff and everyone else. Anyone who wants to complain about my titles please do a PROPER assessment of say the last 20/50/100 articles and send me a list of the so-called click-bait headlines. Give me a REAL percentage and we can discuss this sensibly.
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Lol. Nice one author. Conveniently left Arteta out from Headline.
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Hahahaha……….it doesn’t usually end well for those who pay off their transfer fees to club of their dreams , does it?
Cesc , fellaini…
I hear that man-utd will only consider a permanent sale of their afro-hairerd superstar *coughs* as against a Loan deal
and the funniest part is Manure fans wishing he’s offloaded sooner , rather than Later…prats L()L
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Lol We will need both for Barca
How is Alexis doing?
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What if Giggs manages Man United Gerrard at Liverpool, Lampard at Chelsea,Henry at Arsenal.. Who will manage Man City?
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@Goonertilldeath
Nasri…LOL!!!!
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Looks Like citeh doesn’t have a Legend L()L
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Liam Gallagher 😂😂😂
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Joe Hart for Man City mate
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@Twig
“Bendtner?” In midfield at that…
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Nah, Bendtner leads the line. Remember his goal against Barcelona? By the way, we do a fluid formation at Arsenal you know? So I can name the players anyhow 😉
Bendtner will be dropping back from time to time to help with our midfield. I’ve always fancied his passing 😉
_________Bendtner
__Sanchez Ozil Aubameyang
_____Cazorla Coquelin
Monreal Koscielny Gabriel Bellerin
_________Cech
Better now? 😀
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Disaster – very poor evaluation. Ramsey is class. Flaming is struggling but gives 100% and never lost at the Emirates. Not saying they are better. Carzola is 30 and just had bad injury he may never recapture his form. Ramsey will only get better.
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Disaster- not specifically “ramsey” ……but the Pairing …… I reckon Le-coq and Ramsey (if cazorla doesn’t regain form) would do much better
then there’s EL-neny coming in….. And yea Arteta L()L
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Carzola over Ramsey any day!!!
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I’m sorry but I am not going to be fooled by Wenger’s bull 💩 positive injury updates during a transfer window! 😉
(Once bitten, twice shy)
And if anyone seriously believes that Coquelin or Cazorla will be available for either tie against Barcelona….
Hahaha 😂 Hahaha 😂 hahaha 😂 Hahaha 😂 Hahaha
👀
👃
👅
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I suspect the Boss has the intention to sign a leftback this window for option & cover. Otherwise he wouldn’t be allowing Debuchy to leave. And 2, talking of mid-base pair of Cazorla&Coquelin, how on top of their game would they be to efficiently contained the dangerous front trio of Barca at the Ems & Camp Nou? Naturally,one would have thought it will take 3 – 4 weeks for the duo of Cazorla & Coquelin to hit top quality Ucl form after they’ve come back to play against Barca. I am taking Ramsey & Elneny to likely manned the midfield against Barca.
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Having the captain back makes no difference to the team because he just don’t cut it anymore. Me I would leave M F where he is and give him another year at the Arsenal because he is a very good bench player. The other 2 that are out well we all no that AW times are never right and for me the back room staff need changing
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As much as I would love to have Coq & Santi back ASAP, I wonder Arsene leaked the “good news” of their imminent return to action as a bit of a smokescreen to drive to down other teams’ asking prices as we go out bargaining for transfer reinforcments.
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I will trust it when I see Coq on the pitch again.
I just don’t trust these somewhat vague reports. One day you hear a rehabing player is ahead of schedule and 2 days later you hear there is a “setback” We will all just have to wait and hope for the best.
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having known wenger for a very long time now, arteta will be our automatic starter until coq returns. Agree?
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It would be good to have all our injured players back. However it is an insult to call Flamini-Ramsay partnership a disaster because they have kept the team going through the most crucial period. Where did they fall short? Whereas no one disagrees with Coquelin being now better than Flamini I wouldn’t say that Cazorla is necessarily better than Ramsey. Each has his strengths and weaknesses but on average I would rate them equally; whichever of the two is available does the job equally well. It is in every Gooner’s interest to have all our players back and fit because that gives us great selection opportunity to enable us launch our final assault on the title. Imagine what impact fit again Coquelin, Wilshere, Cazorla, Rosicky Sanchez and Welbeck can have on the team! We wouldn’t be overworking our players as is the case now. We could afford rotation on a weekly basis as well as bringing on real effective substitutions for players on the pitch! Our title charge would indeed be great.
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Ramsey is a good player no doubt but I don’t think he has the discipline to be a top notch cm .he is supposed to be the link between mf and attack but the guy is always in the box waiting for someone else to do that job .it is so frustrating
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