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Untold Injury Index – Gameweek 13
By Dale Higginbottom
Gameweek thirteen, unlucky for some but how lucky or unlucky have the injuries been on the top teams here’s this weeks round-up.
Everton Vs Arsenal
Arsenal (5 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – Almunia (7)
- Defence – Vermaelen (10),
- Midfield – Frimpong (12), Ramsey (13), Diaby (6)
- Attack – No injuries reported
Additional issues: Gibbs and van Persie were unused substitutes as they’re still coming back from injury.
Tottenham Vs Blackburn
Tottenham (8 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
- Defence – Dawson (10), King (7)
- Midfield – O’Hara (13), Lennon (3), Huddlestone (2)
- Attack – Defoe (11), Keane (3), dos Santos (2)
Additional issues: Woodgate, not in the 25-man squad, is not included in this list despite being injured. Bentley was a doubt but made the bench. Pavlyuchenko was also doubtful but was fit to start and play most of the game.
Aston Villa Vs Man Utd
Man Utd (7 injuries)
- Goalkeeper – No injuries reported
- Defence – Rafael (1)
- Midfield – Valencia (9), Giggs (6), Anderson (7), Hargreaves (12)
- Attack – Rooney (7), Owen (5)
Additional issues: Evra was doubtful before the game after picking up a knock in the derby but was fit enough to start. Gibson was reported as still recovering from a virus but was on the bench and an unused substitute.
Man City Vs Birmingham
Man City (2 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, defence – No injuries reported
- Midfield – M. Johnson (13)
- Attack – Tchuimeni-Nimely (10)
Additional issues: No additional issues reported.
Stoke Vs Liverpool
Liverpool (4 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No issues reported
- Defence – Agger (7), Aurelio (7), Johnson (4)
- Midfield – Cole (3)
Additional issues: Meireles and Kyrgiakos were doubts but made the starting line-up. Babel was a second half substitute, he was also doubtful for the game.
Chelsea Vs Sunderland
Chelsea (4 injuries)
- Goalkeeper, attack – No injuries reported
- Defence – Alex (4), Terry (2)
- Midfield – Lampard (10), Benayoun (8)
Additional issues: Anelka was a doubt but played the full 90 minutes.
Spurs and Man United lead the way this week in terms of injuries and for once, the injury concerns for us are fairly minimal. Another great away victory and an improving injury standing puts us in a great place going into the big game on Saturday.
Man United’s away form continues to be a problem in the league. Whilst they are not losing games, the number of draws is a big concern. It could quite as easily have been a defeat so they’ll be hoping for some of their big names to return soon.
Man City again have the fewest injuries and therefore are able to put out a pretty strong squad. However, despite being in this wonderful position, they still are not able to dominate games and score goals. I’m sure their injury problems will come at some point this season so when they can’t beat Birmingham at home with an almost full-strength side it’s worrying for their title hopes.
Spurs again failed to keep a clean sheet in a game that they were dominating but scored four so that’s ok. Liverpool again showed that they can’t cope with relatively few injuries, losing away at Stoke. Defensive injuries appear to be their main problem now.
As I feared/hoped in last week’s report, Essien’s suspension on top of Chelsea’s injury concerns to some key players has really shown up their lack of quality reserve players. Two difficult away games at Birmingham and Newcastle before Essien and Lampard are expected to return could mean that they drop more points in the near future.
It really interests me just how much some teams are relying on the fitness of a few great players to get them through this season. Liverpool, Chelsea and City appear to be the main culprits here. If we were without Nasri, Fabregas, Rosicky, Vermaelen and Koscielny (equivalent to Essien, Lampard, Benayoun, Terry and Alex) I’m sure our replacements would fair much better than Chelsea’s did on Sunday at Stamford Bridge.
Two great wins in a week and we’re now back up to second. After the Newcastle defeat I said that we’d need a couple of good results in these two games and thankfully we have them. The confidence is high again and at a great time as next up for us is the Tiny Totts on Saturday 20th. Between now and then however we have an uncomfortable few days as we await the return of our players on international friendly duty. In the last international break we luckily escaped injuries and so we’ll be hoping for more of the same ahead of this important derby game.
Whilst I never wish an injury upon a player (even those who play in white in North London) it is always nice to see that we’re not the worst hit by injuries. The Tiny Totts have not kept a clean sheet away from home all season and with injuries to King and Dawson it might be a struggle for them on Saturday. We’ll go top of the league with a win, I can’t wait.
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Roll on the January window. If the prognosis about Vermaelen is not good, a dominant beast of a CB will be a must of a buy.
i thought adebayor was injured.dont think he was on the bench for the birmingham game.
I thought that Wenger said that Bendtner was also injured with a little groin problem which should keep him out of the Denmark squad also?
We pretty much have our full-strength squad now which is a welcome change from the position we usually find ourselves in. The important thing will be to keep these players fit and give the likes of RVP, Bendtner & Gibbs some playing time to get them sharp again.
P.S. I must admit that the totts have a pretty strong attack now, good test for our defense. Really looking forward to the derby!!
find the injury updates and refree index a slightly bland blight on untolds mantal as the greatest arsenal blog by a mile….keep the great posts!
Only four injured for Chelsea, and they were woeful. Just imagine what they would be like if they had to cope with the kinds of crises Arsenal have endured!
I feel quietly confident about the Spuds game, a back four of Hutton-Gallas-Kaboul-Ekotto should be no match for our potent attack force. Sagna and Nasri should be able to contain the pace of Bale, while Djourou’s height and power should see us deal with Crouch effectively. Van der Vaart and Modric are very good players, but our midfield is still superior in every department.
Yes, my mistake. Bendtner (8) and Adebayor (2) added to the list.
Looks like Terry and Huddlestone could be out for a couple of months. Can Chelsea and Spurs cope with these injuries? On recent performances, probably not.