Last season it seemed to me that Arsenal had finally come out of the long dark tunnel of bad luck that had been plaguing the club for years. It had seemed that there was some sort of football cure on the Gunners, with bad decisions from referees as well as the busiest injury room in the league causing Arsene Wenger all sorts of problems.
We also seemed to get the worst possible outcome every time there was a draw made for the Champions League or one of the domestic cup competitions, but that changed last year as the injury crisis gradually cleared up and we got some decent cup draws, even though we failed to make the most of this against Monaco.
But there was a definite sense that our luck had turned, or there was until the last couple of weeks anyway. Then poor old Jack Wilshere suffered another impact injury to his ankle in training, although hopefully this will not keep him on the sidelines for too long.
Danny Welbeck, meanwhile, took longer to get back to full fitness than first thought and with Alexis Sanchez back late from the Copa America, that left us a bit short for the first Premier League game. We also lost Bellerin to a thigh problem and now it has been reported by Goal.com that Rosicky’s agent has revealed that the midfielder will be out for around two months following an operation.
He said, “Tomas last Tuesday passed arthroscopic knee surgery. The recovery period is estimated at four to eight weeks.”
At least we do not have to cope with the Champions League play off games but even then I feel our bad luck, because Man United have got it so much easier than we are used to. Not only did they get the best possible draw with Club Brugge, but the early start to the EPL season means they have an extra week to prepare. And the TV schedulers seem to have bent over backwards to help them. They play this Friday, giving them the maximum possible time before the first European leg next Tuesday, then a nice break until Saturday, then Wednesday in Belgium and an extra day as their next league game is on the Sunday.
Arsenal could only dream of getting such luck, so should we just accept that all our luck is of the bad variety?