Maybe it is because we are so used to Arsenal being plagued by injury problems year after year that it seems normal, but it does seem a bit odd that a lot of the talk in the football media in the build up to the north London derby this weekend is about the injury problems facing the Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino.
Okay Spurs are missing probably their best centre back Toby Alderweireld and his Belgian international team mate from midfield Moussa Dembele had to be replaced in the first half of their Champions League defeat to Bayer Leverkusen but that still only gives them four players on the injury list of physioroom.com and two of those, Harry Kane and Erik Lamela, are only said to be slight doubts and could feature on Sunday.
Arsene Wenger, meanwhile, has revealed on Arsenal.com that he could be without a large number of key players this weekend with minor injury problems, not to mention the four long term absentees Danny Welbeck, Per Mertesacker, Lucas Perez and Chuba Akpom.
The Frenchman said, “We have still some uncertainties at the moment because Kieran Gibbs has been touched on his shoulder and I don’t know how will respond to that. I will see today [Thursday]. After, the players who did not travel like Cazorla, Monreal, Walcott – there is still some uncertainty today. The closest to coming back looks to be Walcott. We will have a test with him.
“Hector has a test. I left him behind [in midweek] because I was cautious with him. We could have basically forced the issue, he could have played maybe in Bulgaria but he should be alright [for Sunday].
“He has tests today and tomorrow and then we will decide.
“[Cazorla] is similar, he has not practised yet – he will try to go out today and we will see where we go from there. He is a doubt, yes.”
The brilliant Spaniard will be a big loss if he does not make it, even though Arsenal have strong options in Xhaka, Ramsey and Elneny, because he offers something different and is often the one to unlock a defence. The big worry for me is if both left backs are unavailable.
Would Wenger then have to play one of our right backs on the left? Perhaps he would have to move the left footed Koscielny out there but that would weaken the centre of the back four and also reduce our attacking threat on the left.
I also feel we would lose a lot on the right if Walcott is still out, so for people to be feeling sorry for Spurs because of their pathetic little injury list seems a bit much to me. Which injured Gunner do you think is most important?
D.N.
The gunners will beat spurs with a 2-goal margin…done & dusted.
Santi of course!
I think we all agree by now that we lose something too big and important when he isn’t influencing our game on the pitch.
And by the way, Koscielny -though he plays left-side of CD- is not left-footed. Just felt I should point that out.
I am happy Walcott has a good chance of returning in this game. Perfect!
I hate to see his bubbling form fizzle out so early because of injury and limited playing time.
Spurs are going to come out and play. This is where Arsene must go with what has worked in recent times: use a dynamic front 3 that can ALSO play effectively on the counter-attack with quick inter-play and fluid movement.
I m also glad Walcott is back for the game against Spurs. He knows how to stay turn up against them..
I know it’s a massive game but I would happily play Marc bola at left back. I have seen plenty of youngsters make their debuts in this fixture over the years, having said that I think Monreal will play.
If everyone is fit I think 9 of the team picks itself, However with Santi almost definitely out I would say that xhaka, elneny, ramsey, iwobi, walcott, chamberlain and giroud are fighting for the remaining 3 starting places. The unlucky 4 will then join ospina and 2 defenders (from jenkinson, holding, Gabriel, Gibbs, Bola, Niles) on the bench.
The one “change” that could really make a difference is if we go 433, putting walcott left and ozil right, to play against the weaker feet of rose and Walker and the pace of alexis through the middle. Then a midfield 3 would walk all over a spurs midfield missing dembele Sissoko and dier.
Hard to choose between Santi and Theo. They are both important to our starting 11 ATM.
I hope they both start.
I think we are underestimating the Spurs game too much.
Sure we are on a good run and Spurs are on a poor run, but this is a derby in which anything can happen. If there is one thing we learned over last 10 years, it is that when we become confident ahead of big games we tend to dissapoint. We need to bring our A game for 90+ minutes if we want to win this game.
I think this will be a very very difficult game. A win will show me we have matured and perhaps eliminated some of our old failings. A draw and a loss could mean anything including a repeat of previous seasons in the making.