The international break is now over and all of the Arsenal players that joined up with their respective nations will be heading back to north London, if they are not back already. And the most positive thing to come out of the last 10 days is that not a single one of our stars has returned with a new injury problem.
The one concern for Arsene Wenger and the fans was that our French centre back Laurent Koscielny might have aggravated the back problem that kept him out of the Liverpool game. Koscielny had returned fro the Newcastle game and completed France´s friendly against Portugal but was then rested against Serbia amid some rumours that he had a recurrence of the problem.
But it now looks aas though he was rested as a precaution or for tactical reasons, as the Evening Standard are reporting that Koscielny is fine and will be in the team to play Stoke on Saturday, as long as nothing untoward happens in the meantime.
Gabriel, Walcott and Gibbs did not feature for their countries last night, while Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Ospina and Joel Campbell (who claimed an assist) all came through their games unscathed. We are expecting Jack Wilshere back in training very soon and that leaves just Rosicky and Welbeck in the treatment room.
There is concern about the England striker, however, whose return from injury has been delayed many times already, forcing Welbeck to have an operation. Wenger suggested that he might be back in action around Christmas but that optimism was put into question when the England manager Roy Hodgson as he thinks it might take more like six months.
That would be bad news for Arsenal, of course, but on the whole the injury situation at the club does seem to be a lot better than usual.
Hope he gets well as soon as possible
He is useful to have especially League Cup and Fa cup matches
Also want to see Welbeck score against United again.
Last season was CLASSIC. He scored the winning goal @ Old Trafford in the FA Cup and eliminating Utd through a huge defensive error by Valencia
LoL
Off Topic: Andres Iniesta Stats 624 GAMES, 64 GOALS, 92 ASISSTS. MESUT OZIL 372 GAMES, 65 GOALS, 152 ASISSTS. KING OF ASISSTS – MESUT OZIL
I don’t think welbz will really play a part in d team dis year. He will not come back before January because of the surgery. Than he will take a month to return to fitness, Feb is here. Than he will take another month to return to match sharpness , march. No injury is complete at arsenal without a setback. He injures his knee but Wenger comes out saying nothing to worry, its minor and its not a recurrence of the previous injury. And his season if over with only a few games played, 10-15 if lucky, around 20 if verylucky and I m very wrong.
After reading your post (which might prove true) I have to ask, why are you called optimisticgooner?
That’s an eye opener for me. Better be realistic Gooner.
Massive boost if Kos is fit to play.
I want to see more of his partnership with Gabriel. Its well documented that Stock is a tricky customer, hence one strongest team should be played. Ox has a case joining the starting 11, whether Wenger will select him over a player like Ramsey is another thing and whether Wenger will also stick with the miss firing OG will be interesting to see.
It also interesting to see whether LVG will stick with the “miss firing” Rooney, whether Mourinho will stick with the “miss firing” Costa, whether Pellegrini will stick with the “miss firing” Aguero, whether Pochetino will stick with the “miss firing” Kane, and whether BR will stick with the “miss firing” Benteke. The point here is none of the main strikers in the top six teams has set the league alight. Only three have scored one goal each, and these include Olivier.
Sorry but I not really interested in other teams affairs, Arsenal only. Anyway going by your examples even in these few match’s so far both club and international football can you compare OG and Auguero’s performances? Even Rooney has banged in a few including a hat trick if I’m not mistaken.
The needs of our team and other teams are very different. Not trying to argue too much mate but my concern is how long will Wenger give OG chance than giving others like Theo, Joel or Sanchez chance at ST.
Your argument does not hold any water because you were advocating buying such players. So which is it then?
Rooney scoring hattrick? He only scored two goals from the penalty spot. Thought Theo started in the Newcastle game, and Sanchez played in all our four matches so far. Strikers always rotate positions, so I do not see your point about Sanchez not being played as a centre forward. There are times in the game when the main striker will go wide, with Sanchez going central to mix up things. People here wanted Campbell sold and you are complaining that he is not getting game time. Are some people going to come up with consistent arguments, or what will always be consistent in their world is their negativity towards all things Arsenal?
I brought up the issue of other strikers from top teams to highlight the fact that in the real world strikers do not always score goals in each game. They can go on a purple parch but that is no basis for negativity towards them, especially if you claim to support their team.
Hahaha Don’t conpare Giroud’s lack of form to theirs.. They are conpletle different calibre of player in comparison, the are what he (Giroud) is not a proven 30 goal a season striker….
So Benteke and Kane have become proven 30 goal season strikers? Here is Rooney’s record since 2002/2003 season: 6, 9, 11, 16, 14, 12, 26, 11, 27, 12, 17, 0. This translates into an average of 15 goals per season in the EPL, so he is hardly a 30 goal season striker. You may try hard to discredit Giroud but facts will always convict you. The only player who can be called outstanding of the six is Aguero, the rest are not any superior to Giroud, in the general sense.
No i just stopped reading what you said earlier when you mentioned Aguero, Costa, Rooney and Griroud in the same sentence the guys who actually scored 30+ goals a season and led their team a title…. thats blasphemous their a different class of player.. You have done one thing right compared him to Benteke the classic big fish small pond story… same as Giroud put him in a position where he has to lead the line or a top 4, title contender he just doesn’t cut it and mis fires.
You stopped reading because you are allergic to facts, which is your own problem. Rooney’s average goals in the EPL is 15 and so is Giroud. When you look at Rooney’s record you can see that hes record in teh past three season is below Giroud because last season he had 12 goals, so that is 12, 17, 12, while Giroud was 11, 16, 14.
@Budd were getting somewhere …. All im saying is dont compare Giroud’s lack of form to Rooney’s , Aguero’s, or Costa because Groud is simply not in that category of player and regardless how you average out his statistics to make it seem as if it has a similar impact as any of those players….. If i was offered those players i would drop Olivier in a heartbeat and im sure many of you will too.
Lol
@Analyzer, may the 4TH be with you.
You’re FOURTH in the head if you know what I mean.
@The Analyzer we can all manipulate facts to fit what we want to emphasise , By your Logic Bedtner is a better than Messi as in the champions league he has scored more goals on English soil…. Rooney has played Alot longer in the league not t mention for 4 or 5 seasons he played second fiddle once again to Ronaldo…. Which Balon d’or player hindered Girouds ability to play in his favoured position ?
How can you manipulate statistics? Did Rooney scored more than that? Did Giroud scored less than what’s in there? The only issue here is that you lot can’t accept reality as it happened. Worse yet, you have been watching it but you refuse to acknowledge it. Oh, and btw Ronaldo never had Balon D’Or at Manure. Is like you put today Zidane to play next to Giroud and you will make the claim that he played in a team full of stars.
Ohh he won world player of the year 2008 … which eventually the joined with balon d’or how silly of me…. If you want to paint a picture to compare Giroud to Rooney paint it over a similar time what that guy was doing earlier was averaged his goal ratio over Rooney’s 11 year period in the league instead of the last 3 years in which Giroud played in the BPL, Oh on Average in the last 3 season Now Rooney has just scored 23.3 Goals a season to Girouds 15.. Witness how i just manipulated statistics , we’ve gone from GIROUD AND ROONEY BEING EQUAL TO NOT AT ALL
Then why bring it in then if you meant something else? No one claimed Rooney = Giroud because it’s simply not true. What is true though is that they scored basically the same amount of goals per EPL season (With Giroud actually being the top scorer in Ligue 1 before joining Arsenal). That’s it.
With our midfield Rooney will score more than Giroud. How many sitters Giroud has missed. Not just club level even international level. No one is saying Giroud is bad striker but he isn’t striker who can fire us to title.
@ Anal-yzer
lol…AKB’s (you) shall NEVER learn…smh. First of all, I have said it here thousands of times….it says a lot about the quality of Giroud if the only time he can be compared to top strikers are the few times when they are “not playing well”. Its almost like you forget the other seasons and what these top strikers have done continually. It takes a high degree of shallowness and ignorance to make such comparisons.
We are doomed. Can’t wait for Wenger to depart. Hopefully, the bodies (AKB’s) follow the head of the snake when it is cut off. Only at Arsenal do we have an average striker for 4 seasons and then reward him with wages over 100K pounds.
Rooney’s average EPL goals is 15 and so is Giroud whats your point?
You’re forgetting his played in the league alot longer and, for a good 4 seasons played second fiddle to Ronaldo… one of the greatest players of the modern generation.. not to mention the period of time when he spent half a season out with the metatarsal injury in 2006, or in 2010 the achilles inury that kept him out until Feb. What’s Giroud’s excuse.
@The Analyzer, it’s surprising that you think Giroud is Arsenal Quality.
With the quality of midfield we have, I’m devastated that Giroud has never scored a hat-trick for Arsenal…talk less of being a 30 goal a season striker.
Ronaldo for Manure was NEVER the #1 player under SAF, OK? I can think of 3 or 4 players higher rated by SAF (and I wont even include Rooney) in the same team with Ronaldo (Scholes, Neville, Ferdinand etc) He won the best player award only at Madrid. Rooney was always rated above Ronaldo by SAF. Giroud does not need any excuse. At least he should not excuse himself in front of such fans. You lot were picking in the same manner on Ramsey two seasons ago and when Barcelona was linked with him after he started to click in you were outraged. You don’t deserve these players. You don’t deserve Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott, Giroud, Arteta all these players carrying as they could this club so far.
Fans like you are the reason for this last transfer window. You are the reason this club is NOT going to win the EPL for the 12th consecutive year running and are farther apart agin from doing anything meaningful in the champions league. Nothing is different this season and only lunatics can expect different results without changing anything.
It will only make me more foolish trying to explain anything to you.
Lets just agree you are right and that Giroud is the best player in the world and plays better than Wayne Rooney and has a better or the same record as Wayne rooney and is better than Aguero and all those strikers we mentioned and that Giroud is essential so we need Giroud like we have needed him for the past 3 seasons.
Come the end of the season, you will hear from me as others like you have heard it from me. For now, I will stay away from your delusional comments and let you bask in your depthless self-vindicating theories about how Giroud is ultra talented and the best thing to happen to the EPL. With the way you analyze, I would say don’t watch any matches again. Just stick with your numbers because they paint a full picture and football is that simple. That is why you are The Analyzer.
Move over Wayne Rooney, Giroud the LEGEND. 😀
Yes, because Wengers is fielding these fans every weekend. This mantra gets boring every day. Is funny at first but then it just bore people to death. If you are a fan then all it is expected from you is to stand behind your team. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less. You are just a fan. Get over it, Arsenal is going to exist with or without you. You mean nothing in the big scheme of things (just like me or any other) and that is a good thing.
id like to be a spy on these fans(MC,MU, Spuds, Liv, Chel) sites to see if these strikers are also getting all the blame for not scoring..
You see the difference between their strikers and ours, is that the know what there strikers are capable of … they’ve already done it i the league scored 30+ goals in a season in all competitions and lead them to silverware .. Rooney ,Aguero and now Costa…. we know what they are capable of we’ve seen it and i think fans would be more forgiving for that… But i keep getting told Giroud is capable of it but mate 3 seasons later …. Im still waiting.
Like Rooney, he scores every season 30+. Hell, even Benteke does that. Not to mention Costa or Falcao at Chelsea. And why not bring in Kane, he’s a 30+. Sterling is a 30+ striker. Even Martial does it.
No but i saying he has done it and not saying in the premier league all comps with a large portion of those goals comming in the league … at a premier league team and like Aguero and Costa did it in a season where they won the premier league…. do you see the relationship….. teams wit 30 goal a season strikers tend to win the title … and there is no team that has managed to win the league in the last 6 years that hasn’t boasted a striker of such calibre.
U missed aguero!!
@Budd
I like when some go on about 30+ strikers from other teams, yet when I went on about Afobe, who actually scored 30+ they say he wasn’t good enough…Lmfao
Oh, yeah. I should add that he would have scored more with our midfield players feeding him through balls…
Get over him, he wasn’t good enough to lead the attack otherwise he wouldn’t have been sold
i just hope wilshere won’t get injured again before he comes back
we need to be more ruthless up front. every attacker must shoot even from outside the box more often cuz we have great shooters. and the gunners need to play every ******* minute like a true team. If we do this, I can chill in every arsenal game even at bayern away cuz when the team is firing at all cylinders, I know what they are capable of. From my experience as an arsenal fan, it’s a joy to watch a confident Arsenal team that’s plays like one for the full 90 mn. let’s beat Stoke city cuz we are the gunners. COYG.
And then the Daily Express comes out with this gem:
“Thierry Henry set for shock Arsenal return amid serious striker shortage”
And if you read the article they were referring to his new role as u18s coach. A case of a click bait headline.
I know. That’s why I say it’s a “gem”, if you get what I mean.
No forward player at Arsenal can quite do the kind of things Welbeck can do. Get well soon Welbz.
Can somebody please listen to Nicholas Anelka? He got something to say.
Which might shock a few anti-Arsenal supporters on this website!! Anelka speaking from experience…not from outside in like many negative pundits and supporters!! #COYG
Afobe should not have been sold unless wenger had an issue with him behind the scenes. @budd is extremely eloquent and fields his views well but is almost certainly on wengers books!