Arsene on Arshavin, Fabianski, and Injuries
Add comment April 24th, 2009
Morning all. Bit of swift whizz round this morning’s news.
Andrey Arshavin has warned Premier League defences that there is more to come, and it’s perhaps no surprise that the Russian has come in for high praise from Arsene Wenger:
“What is more important than the four goals – of course, there are exceptional goals in there – but what makes me very positive about the future is the fact that he’s a real winner.
When you see the fourth goal it’s the desire of the winner – it’s a good mixture of extreme motivation and relaxation aswell, because when you see his goal from behind, it’s like he flies away with the ball, because he lets his left foot go, you know?
It’s an amazing mixture of motivation and pure technical quality.”
One man who has hit the headlines for less positive reasons is recent days is Lukasz Fabianski, but Arsene is insistent that the goalkeeper is aware of his own failings:
“One characteristic of a top level performer is they rate their own performance well, and Fabianski knew after that he did not play well against Chelsea.”
Indeed, Fabianski himself was been remarkably honest about the Chelsea game and his desire to improve, saying:
“After the weekend, I was really feeling down. I know that it was mostly because of me that we did not qualify for the FA Cup Final.
When you are honest and look with honest eyes on that, you can say it. Every day I had been waking up with the game still in my mind, so it was not easy. When the season is finished, maybe I will clear it out from my mind. It was a big, big chance to win something this season in the FA Cup. I did not help my team like I should have, and I am sorry for that.”
Perhaps Fabianski will go on to become the world class keeper Arsene patently believes he will be, but in the short-term it’s great news that Manuel Almunia has made a full return to training, and could start against Middlesbrough on Sunday. Johan Djourou and Emmanuel Adebayor could also return to the squad, though I’m not sure they’ll be risked from the start. The bad news is that Robin van Persie will miss both the ‘Boro game and the first leg of the United tie, on a night where we’ll also be without Gael Clichy. Tomas Rosicky and William Gallas will not return this season.
I did warm you this’d be a real whistle-stop tour. There’ll be a much juicier ‘Boro preview tomorrow morning. Till then.
