The Soccer Blog: Injury Updates, Gunners in Suits, and Almunia Could Leave in January

Tuesday, 7 December 2010

Injury Updates, Gunners in Suits, and Almunia Could Leave in January

By: Sairax | December 6th, 2010

Just a quick Monday news round up for you all. I know that many of you, like me, are still reeling from the exquisite Nasri goals this weekend. Here’s what Super Samir had to say about it:

You can tell by the way he speaks about his performance that he is self-aware and possesses an intelligence that is shining through on the pitch. I think he has been the best player in the league this season, along side Nani, Carlos Tevez, and oh ok fine, Gareth Bale. He is also well-regarded in the dressing room and has been using his disappointment at missing the World Cup to spurn himself on to perform better and better. I hope he continues with these wonderful performances and when he teams up with an injury-free Cesc, well we could see a really electric midfield emerge in the second half of the season.

Speaking of injuries, Koscielny is out with what seems to be a concussion. Word is he won’t be back until the New Year. At the same time, it seems Vermaelen won’t be back until January either at the earliest as we all suspected. He is currently sporting a protective boot to help his recovery from his Achilles injury. It’s been a big miss not having him on the pitch and I hope he recovers well and comes back for us soon, though my gut is telling me that we might not even see him at all this season. He has been talking about how frustrating it is not to be able to play but he is hopeful that we will be able to continue our push for the title without him. He is looking forward to our big match next week against Manchester United as one we need to win. Sagna also thinks this could be a crucial game for us:

“If we want to be successful, we have to win these big games. In our first one of the season – against Chelsea – we dropped points. But we have dropped so many points at home we need to win these games.

“We do not want the season to be over at the end of December. We want to win these next matches and give even more power to the team.”

It’s good to know that the players are aware how big this match is and how a win would be a huge boost for us in the table. I hope he realized that if we lose that the season will not actually be over for us, but I suspect that is just big talk to hype themselves up for the game. We’ll be previewing that match in full closer to matchday.

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Last night some of our Gunners were in attendance at a charity gala for SOS Children. The lovely WAG of Robin van Persie, Bouchra, has teamed up with Carla Dona Garcia and Aimee van Ommen (partners of Fabregas and Vermaelen) to promote ‘ABC’, which they created in order to help young people with absent parents, street children, child soldiers and children orphaned by war, poverty illness or natural disasters. Bouchra is from Morocco and she and Robin have been involved in sponsoring a family of orphans in an African village. For more info on her work and the Gunners’ involvement check out this link. For more photos of the Gunners and their WAGs plus Thierry Henry at the SOS charity function, visit this link or even this link.

Finally, there have been some rumblings that Almunia will be allowed to leave the club in January if a club will meet a price of £1.5m. I don’t know how accurate this is, but I don’t think any of us would be too surprised if he did leave in January. I don’t think he really has an elbow injury and he is most probably frustrated at being dropped as first-choice keeper for Fabianski. I don’t think he will be regaining his position as our #1 anytime soon, particularly with Szczesny waiting in the wings, so perhaps it is best if he moved on to a club where he can play.

That’s all for today. With watching Nasri’s goals over and over, listening to his lovely french accent, and seeing our Gunners all dressed up in suits next to their fabulous wags, it’s a wonder I got anything done for today. Martin will be back tomorrow for a preview of our big Champions League match coming up on Wednesday against Partizan.

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Some Related Stories:Special 1 TV Returns; Rooney to Leave United in January?; Eastmond Arrested; Brum Highlights VideoSimpson to Leave?; + World Cup RoundupWigan Highlights and Thoughts; Wenger Says No Room for January SigningsBarnet 0 – Arsenal 4; Is Almunia On the Way Out?Ramsey And Almunia Return for Reserves — What Now?

Category: Arsenal News

Tags: Arsenal News
« How Do You Solve a Problem Like Songinho? | Home | Andylowe14just read something about the partizan belgrade match coming up wednesday - 'Arsenal would be wise to trouble 36-year-old centre-back Mladen Krstajic with pace' theo walcott perhaps?? qualification for the knock out round is surely guaranteed, we're poised to win the carling cup, and top of the premier league (ignoring man utd's game in hand of course) ... things are going well! and i remember not so long ago someone was reciting poetry about how arsenal were flopping it..Perry S."though my gut is telling me that we might not even see him at all this season..." Make sure you get that checked out, if he misses the entire season, its on you!SairaxVideo of Arsenal WAGs doing their thing for charity
http://youtu.be/vNDWm4ijcF8

We got the best WAGs in the league hands downAndylowe14yes they are!Gooner89..I'm sorry to be critical but I just can let this go. When you mention the best players in the league this year, Nasri yup, Tevez yup, Bale, yup but..............NANI?????????????

Hes been Manures best player ok, but including him with the other three would be laughable if it wasnt actually frightening. Its symptomatic of the hype that keeps them where they are. Just like 'Stam was the best defender in the world' 'Keane was the best midfielder in the world' and way worst of all 'a fit Rooney is in the best 3 players in the world' when a fully fit Rooney would be lucky to be in the top 20. This is the same message that led to Wolves effectively throwing a game at Old Trafford last year. Man u dont have any of the top players this year, they are nothing to be afraid of and they have nothing that should get a single neutral onlooker excited. They are a solid, grinding team with more self belief than anyone but Chelsea, largely becaues fans and even players of other clubs think they are something they are not.

Dont do the medias job for them. When Man U are irrelevant, leave them out of the discussion.Martin5 goals and 8 assists in 13 league matches. 1 goal created per game. Not a single Arsenal player can make such a claim (Nasri comes closest, with 8 goals and 1 assist in 12 matches).

I think he's a huge douche, but he has been excellent for them this year.BertrandArshavin, 3 goals 8 assists.

MartinYeah, but I was actually talking about goals created per game. Nasri is at 75%, Arshavin is (with 15 matches) at 73.33%. But that probably wasn't clear from my comment -- Arshavin does lead the team in goals + assists in the league.MartinDid you see where Mark Huhges came out and said we didn't play like title contenders against Fulham, and that while they didn't get a result, he thought they had provided a template to other teams about how to beat Arsenal? What a clown.Darren_VFor whatever reason, Hughes seems to absolutely HATE Wenger.
Come to think of it, alot of managers seem to dislike our frenchman, and they are all British.
Hughes, Pulis, FatSam, McLeish....Perry S.Racist scum...MartinI still think the sticking point with Almunia is going to be finding another team willing to match or take on his wages, which are extremely high given his ability. I think he'd be one of the highest-paid players at any Spanish team aside from the Big Two, and I'm not sure how many teams really want to commit to that for a keeper who is probably an average-quality La Liga keeper. And I guess part of that is down to Almunia -- would he rather stay on Arsenal's bench and collect a check, or maybe take a slight pay cut to be the # 1 at a good but not elite team in his native Spain?

At any rate, I'll just say that, while I think that this is the right move, I'll miss him if it's true. I think he is a good guy, a good teammate, always good with the fans, and he always gave 100% for Arsenal.BalaAfter seeing the Match highlights again I really feel for that young Fulham Left backmobbdeenYep. Hughes is going to staple his bum to the bench for a loooooooong time...blog comments powered by Disqus