Amidst all the positives that were on show for Arsenal fans during the heavy defeat of the champions of Portugal on Saturday, not everything about the Arsenal v Benfica clash in the Emirates Cup was good. In fact one aspect of the game could turn out to be a big concern for the Gunners as we approach the start of the Premier League season, and that is the injury picked up by Francis Coquelin.
For the first half hour or so of that match the combative Frenchman was looking great and back to his best in central midfield. Not only was Coquelin doing his job of reading the game and breaking it up with fast and hard pressing along with some tough tackling, his passing and use of the ball was very impressive and he even played a key role in our second goal scored by Theo Walcott.
When Coquelin plays like that it makes me forget about the old cliche of Arsenal having no steeel to our spine and I think he is a massive player for us in that respect, so with a tough start scheduled for us in the EPL title race we could have done with him at the heart of the team.
Buit as Arsene Wenger revealed on the Arsenal website, Coquelin’s injury is to an ankle ligament and even though the boss says it is not a bad one, a medical website explains that he will miss a minimum of four weeks and it could easily be twice that.
Even four weeks is not a good time for us to be without Coquelin as we play Chelsea, Leicester City, Stoke and Liverpool in that time, so will this injury be a big problem for Arsebnal and our title challenge?
Bob.