The Soccer Blog: Arsenal Deal With Injury Woes While Competing On Four Fronts

Thursday, 24 February 2011

Arsenal Deal With Injury Woes While Competing On Four Fronts

By: Sairax | February 24th, 2011
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Fresh off of our win yesterday against Stoke and looking ahead to the Carling Cup Final this weekend, Arsenal inevitably find themselves looking at the injury list biting their nails. Theo has a sprained ankle and will definitely not be playing at Wembley on Sunday. Whether or not he will be ready to face Barcelona at the Camp Nou is uncertain, but it looks doubtful. Cesc has a problem with his hamstring and we are still unsure how bad it is at the moment. I’m sure he and Wenger will wait until the absolute last minute before ruling him out for Sunday. Cesc is itching to play. Last night he tweeted: “I dont know if I’ll make Sunday or not, but all I know is that from this moment to Sunday I won’t sleep if it’s necessary. I’ve waited too long to captain a final for Arsenal and I won’t give up till the last second.” I think it’s best that he gets some sleep, but hey, I’m not a doctor. It’s obvious that he wants so much to be a part of this cup final and we all would love to see him there, but if there is any risk, we should be careful. I still think we will see him play and that he was taken off yesterday as a precaution. Cesc is vitally important to our team, but Wenger has been very cautious this season with injuries to our players and has handled the squad pretty well on the whole. The fact that we are still in all four competitions shows the strength of our squad and our ability to rotate and cope with injuries.

We could be having Rambo back soon to help us in our hunt for trophies. It will take him some time to get back in the swing of things, and surely he will suffer a few niggling injuries and setbacks. I think most of us are just really happy to see him playing again and I know I am anxiously awaiting his return in an Arsenal shirt. No news yet about the injury status of RvP and Kos. The club will come out with something tomorrow, but I suspect they were just rested yesterday and rumours are that they will both be fine for Wembley. Ah, Wembley. We’re going to Wembley, people! A proper cup final. Pretty sweet. We know Cesc is up for it. If the rest of the team isn’t, there’s something wrong with them. Birmingham are certainly geared up and ready to go. They’ve rested their best players ahead of the game and will surely want to get their hands on some silver for the club and their fans. Cameron Jerome is already talking a bit on how Arsenal are the favourites and how there is a lot of pressure on Arsenal to compete and win trophies. Pre-Cup-Final smack talk eh? I likes it! Former Gunner Seb Larsson is backing his teammate Barry Ferguson to contain Cesc on Sunday. Lots of confidence coming from the Brum players who will give 100% and hope that some of our players show up a bit complacent, which, frankly, isn’t out of the question as we have seen this season. I’m so excited! This will be my first cup final as a proper gooner and I hope we got out there and give it our all.

Being in the hunt for four trophies is huge for Arsenal right now. Not that many clubs are in the running for one trophy, let alone four in February. Will we win all four? No. If we do that would be lovely, but it’s about as likely as me getting a phone call from James Franco asking me to accompany him to the Oscars. We could still realistically win one or two. We’re one point off of Man United in the league. They will be going to the DW Stadium to face Wigan on Saturday. They should be able to win it, but their away record suggests otherwise, so any points dropped and suddenly Arsenal’s odds turn favourable. It just shows how crucial it was to get the three points against Stoke. Sagna points out that even though it was tough, we managed to deal with the challenge we faced against Stoke and keep the pressure on United. We’ve done our job so far. We haven’t lost a league game since we went to Old Trafford and our last loss in all competitions was against Ipswich in January. We have kept 6 clean sheets in our last 8 Premier League matches. We are in a good run of form and all we need is for United to encounter a banana peel, which I sense could be coming soon.

Our quest for trophies sees us go to the Camp Nou in a couple of weeks. We have injury doubts, which is tough enough without considering our opposition. I checked with Orbinho this morning what our record in Champions League is when we have won our first leg in a knockout tie. He informed me that Arsenal have played the 1st leg at home 7 times. When winning, we have gone through 3 out of 4 times. When drawing, we have progressed 1 out of 3 times. Not too bad, but it will be an uphill battle. David Villa thinks Barcelona were far superior to the Arsenal at the Emirates and that if they play as they did in the first leg, but do better in taking their chances in front of goal, they should have no problem going through. Xavi thinks it will be a tough game at the Camp Nou and that Arsenal will be set up a bit more defensively away from home. I’m of course terrified, as I always am, but slightly comforted knowing we could get a draw or even lose 3-2 and still progress. For now I’ll just put the game in the back of my mind until we get closer to the date. One game at a time, that’s what they say.

So will the Carling Cup final be a defining moment in our season? Could losing out on this trophy totally take the momentum out of our season? Or is this the moment we see Wenger’s vision finally take hold? Is this team ready to win and keep on winning? Does Bendtner joining twitter mean that Arsenal will lead a twitter revolution? Will I stop asking questions and start answering them? Ha! You wish!

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Category: Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal News, Bacary Sagna, Carling Cup, Cesc Fabregas, Injury Report, Premiership, Theo Walcott

Tags: Aaron Ramsey, Arsenal News, bacary sagna, Carling Cup, Cesc Fabregas, Injury Report, Premiership, Theo Walcott
Tweet « Arsenal 1 Stoke 0: Gunners Rue Injuries As Squizz Heads Home Winner | Home | ASDFWhatever is said about Cesc left, right and center, I believe that he has his heart set at winning trophies with Arsenal and he would try his best to play and win on Sunday. This is what Arsenal spirit is all about ain't it? Sticking with each other through thick and thin, supporting and loving the team unconditionally. This will be my first cup final too Sairax as a proper gooner and you bet I'm excited. For all those times when I have won trophies with Arsenal in FIFA at Wembley, I keep on imagining of it happening in reality and finally we are there in a final; the new Wembley which I'm sure would be a sea of red and white on Sunday. I sooooo hope we win this !!!! Go GunnersSairaxI wonder what the odds actually are of James Franco calling me up and asking me to the Oscars?Rlahan1arsenals problem every year...MarloneiousWho are you?blog comments powered by Disqus