Arsenal’s Injury Curse Continues By Joey Mack
Gooners are waking up this morning to the dispiriting news that Shkodran Mustafi is going to be out of action until the New Year because of an injury he picked up in the 37th minute of Germany’s 5-1 trouncing of Azerbaijan last night. This will be the German international’s second major injury in only fourteen months since he signed for Arsenal, and he was also rumoured to have been unsettled and wanting out of the club during last summer’s transfer market.
Die Mannschaft’s coach, Joachim Löw, confirmed that Arsenal’s 25 year old-defender seems to have suffered a major muscle tear in his right thigh and while the fact that his wages of £90,000 a week will be covered by the Germans while he’s injured might make Arsenal’s penny-pinching board members happy, it leaves anxious fans even more worried about the Gunners chances of making the Top Four. This is particularly disappointing, considering the clean sheets we have managed to keep recently.
Considering that our main defender Laurent Koscielny has been forced to miss France’s two World Cup qualifying matches this international break due to injury, and that Calum Chambers has been sidelined for weeks with a mysterious hip injury. With potential future star Bielik also injured, and we have every right to be worried. While young Rob Holding has a lot of admirers, his last few performances have been underwhelming, and he’s often seemed like the youngster he is, struggling to cope with the speed and power of opposing attackers.
Given our famous history of injuries, many of us are wondering why Wenger let Gabriel Paulista go, especially when we took a significant loss on his sale. So what will this mean for our tactics? Will Arsenal be forced to revert to a back four? Will Wenger try to convert Debuchy to a defender the way he did Bacary Sagna? Should Arsenal consider the 34 year-old, who is currently without a club and wanted by Leicester?
Whatever happens, this is not the scenario any of us wanted, and it could get worse, with France playing its last qualifying match tomorrow…
Joey