With all the injury problems that have plagued our club in recent years, the Arsenal fans are very well schooled in what damage an injury or a string of injuries can do to a team. Often it has been the timing of these problems as much as the injuries themselves that causes so much trouble, but the latest injury to our French midfield star Francis Coquelin could hardly have come at a better time and should not cause the Gunners any major problem.
When Coquelin did his knee ligament at West Brom last season it left Arsene Wenger with a serious selection headache as there was no Arteta and we had not yet signed Elneny. This time is different because the boss can turn to Granit Xhaka with Elneny as a back up and there is an international break coming up anyway. For now Wenger has the perfect chance to let Xhaka show what he can do.
It is unfortunate for Coquelin as he was in a good run of form and was starting regular games but this is why a club like Arsenal needs a good squad. At least the Frenchman knows that Wenger appreciates him and that he will be given more chances when fit again.
Hopefully that will not be too long and to be honest I think that he may not have been starting as many games for the next month or so. Not only is there an international break but our games are against lesser teams like Ludogorets, Burnley, Sunderland, Reading and Middlesborough and the combative talents of Coquelin are not as necessary in games like this.
What we could do with, however, is for the 25-year old to be fit and ready to play by November because we then have a three game run against Tottenham, Man United and PSG. So as long as the knee injury does not turn out to be a big one, I think this injury is one that should not affect Arsenal and our trophy chances too much.
Bob.
Every injury is bad news. It’s just that we won’t feel it as much as we used to due to our strong squad
I totally agree.
The injury to coquelin appears to be a repeat injury of the one last season. Whilst we have adequate cover, my concern is that this could be a persistent problem, lets hope that it is not the case. Lets also hope that coquelin is not going to join the long list of arsenal players whose career is blighted by injuries.
The title of the article is totally wrong, this is bad news for arsenal, let us hope it is not very bad news.
Get well soon Coquelin. Hopefully he won’t be out for so long. Coquelin and Xhaka are quality players. Coquelin does somethings better while Xhaka does some things better as well. Xhaka will bring his own ingredients to the team and make things happen. The same way Coquelin adds his own too. Good to have good squad.
Last season we had flamini. This season we have Xhaka and Elneny. Good stuff!
Coquelin is a big miss if you ask me, not as big as say a season or two ago but he’s been a big player lately. He sees there is a real scrap for places and he responded exactly how you’d want him to. Matic and Kante couldn’t take a breath of fresh air without having to fight Coquelin for it, seriously, they didn’t have a moments peace.
The last time he get injured, he was replaced by Arteta while we were winning 1-0, and the el-capitan back then turn to have the worst game of his Arsenal career by giving two goals away, 1 through awarding penalty and the other one by direct own goal. OMG what a game to forget, and then he went back to his usual injury immediately that day.
But this time around he was replaced by equally good player or even better player in Xhaka.
Wow, what a squad.
Sorry, *Dengerous Free kick NOT *penalty