So the Interlull is over but a familiar new friend has reared its ugly head – The Injurelull. Yesterday it was revealed that Robin van Persie would be out until mid-October following the ankle knock he picked up against Blackburn.
What can you say other than there’s nothing in the least bit surprising about it? The only thing you rely on with regards to Robin is that he’s going to get injured at some point. Relying on him to stay fit and play regularly seems like a fool’s errand.
If he does make it back for mid-October he’ll have missed Bolton, Braga, Sunderland, West Brom, Partizan Belgrade and Chelsea (I’ve left out the CC game against Sp*rs as he was never going to play in that anyway). He might make it back for Birmingham when we return from the next Interlull. It’s a lot of games for the main striker at the club to miss, especially as we’ve got Bendtner out injured too. Any kind of injury to Chamakh and we’re looking at using Arshavin as centre-forward again.
I love Robin, I have to say. I love his talent, ability, attitude, I love the fact that he clearly loves the Arsenal, but there has to come a point where you question his place in the squad. He’s either the most brittle man alive or the unluckiest man alive. Either way it’s not great for him or for Arsenal. I know we’ve added depth to the striking positions with Chamakh but reading injury news about RVP is so frustrating because it happens so often.
What do you do if you’re Arsene Wenger though? You know you’ve got a supremely talented footballer but one you can’t really rely on for the duration of a season. Do you take a risk and keep him, hoping he stays fit, or do you take a risk and sell him knowing it’s possible he might stay fit and do great things elsewhere? Tough one. In the meantime let’s hope he recovers quickly and be thankful that we’re not fans of horse racing – Robin would have been shot in the head and smooshed into dog food by now.
And to top off that great news we’re probably going to be without Theo Walcott on Saturday, at least. His fantastic start to the season was derailed when he was caught by the most innocuous challenge during England’s game last night. He went over on his ankle and was stretchered off. Apparently the damage isn’t too bad, Fabio Capello said after it’d be less than two weeks, but again I’m going to wait and see what the official verdict from the club is.
The timing of the injury is a huge frustration, Theo’s start to the season has been outstanding and the last thing you want are set-backs like this. As far as I can tell at this early stage there aren’t any problems with anyone else. I’m hoping that remains the case, that nobody trips over their luggage and tweaks an achilles or something, and we’ll get a fuller picture of who is available for the weekend over the next couple of days.
There’s some good news in that Samir Nasri appears to be in contention for the weekend after his knee surgery. There’s the silver lining, I suppose.
In other news, there were some first team faces involved with the reserves last night. Sebastien Squillaci played his first game in an Arsenal shirt and he was joined by Johan Djourou, Denilson and Lukasz Fabianski in a 4-3 win over Blackburn. Obviously it provides then with some much needed match practice and by the sounds it there were a few cobwebs which needed blowing away. All four are likely to be part of the weekend’s squad for the Bolton game.
Wellington, the Brazilian superwondermegakid, has gone back to Brazil but says:
The experience in London was perfect. I can now dream of playing in the Premier League and I don’t think it will be hard for me to adapt. Mr Wenger has spoken with me and has helped me with my work and training. I am really looking forward to this challenge.
He goes back to Brazil until January at which point he turns 18 and can join is full time. I think it’s probably a bit much to expect him to make an impact this season, to be honest, but then if an orphan hobo can get a game at United you just never know these days, do you?
I did see the Vermaelen comments yesterday but I’ve made a new rule on this blog that at no point will I ever quote anyone who talks about the DNA of Cesc Fabregas. I think we ought to just accept the fact that upon his death Cesc will donate his body to science, they can go through his genetic code, discover cures for all known diseases (except Fat-Mouth which that Silvio Dante looking little fucker has a rotten case of), and be done with the whole thing.
Finally for today, here’s a haiku:
Interlull is gone.
Fuck off scabby Interlull.
You shit faced cunt hound.
Mañana.
