A lot of the talk concerning the Premier League clubs both before and during the latest round of international games was about the injury situation, and although it seemed as though Arsenal would, for once, get lucky and not lose any p[layers, the very last qualifier for Germany saw our defender Shkodran Mustafi pick up a hamstring problem that will see him miss at least a month of action.
The only one of the big six in the EPL to get away without losing any players was, in fact, our north London rivals Tottenham but I do think that the Gunners may have got away lightly, or at least we are not in quite as bad a position as the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea who have lost key players like Aguero, Morata, Fellaini and Mane.
Our German defender is a regular first teamer but I am not sure that he is quite as vital to our fortunes as Mane is to Klopp’s Liverpool. All we can do is to hope that Arsenal do not suffer in the absence of Mustafi, of course, and it is up to the players that are fit to ensure we don’t, while hoping that our rivals for the EPL trophy do miss their own walking wounded.
D.N.
Arsenal still have other central defenders. Even some of the fullbacks and the defensive mdifelders could be used as central defenders.
But it would be better if Arsenal buy another central defender that is better technically and physically than the existing ones. If Van Dijk is too expensive, I am sure there are other good central defenders available.
We have The Beckenbaur of England (Holding) waiting in the locker room and his mate the English Maldini (Chambers). We are more than fine.
Anfield, what a great classic stadium. Sometimes I wish they could’ve made Highbury big like this but it was limited to extension because of nearby houses.