Did you hear the cheers from the Arsenal fans yesterday when Tomas Rosicky made his first appearance of the season against Burnley yesterday? It was great to see Little Mozart back where he belongs, but yet again he has been hit by Arsenal’s injury curse and suffered another thigh injury during the game and will be back on the treatment for another month at least…
And does anyone remember a player of ours called, what was it, Jack Wilshere? Yes thats him… Well he was injured (again!) in the summer and was supposed to be back after a few weeks, but in September the return was put back until Christmas. Just this week Wenger changed his forecast until the middle of March, but now it seems he has had yet another setback which will probably keep him out even longer…
Jack was desperately hoping to get a run of first team games for Arsenal to get him in competitive mood before the Euros in France this summer, but that dream seems to recede every single time we get another update. I obviously wouldn’t dare to suggest that Wenger has has concealed this news until after the transfer window shuts, as he would never be so underhand would he?
Another important England player is Danny Welbeck, who hasn’t played for us since last April and was also forecast by Wenger to be back (as a new signing lol) in January, but again Wenger has explained that it will still be some time before he will be able to join the squad. Le Prof said yesterday: “It has to be gradual; he has to go through an under-21 game first,” the manager said. “Danny has not played since April 2015 and we are now in February basically, so that is very long for a top-level competitor.
“You have to accept that he goes through small steps and one of them is to play in the under-21s, first for 45 minutes.
“He is basically fit but now it is to absorb the competition and the intensity of the competition. That is the next step for him.”
So we still have no real date for his return, and as he has already had so many setbacks it is very unlikely that he would be risked even if he starts to show signs of progress, but until he actually gets some minutes on the pitch for the Under 21s we can’t really forecast anything. Let’s just say that I am pessimistic on him being back for March, and that’s only if everything goes according to plan which, as we know, very rarely happens…