Wilshere injured, but Arteta training at Colney
778 comments September 5th, 2011
I have to say, what excited me most about the signing of Mikel Arteta was the possibility of once more seeing an intelligent, technical midfielder alongside the prodigious Jack Wilshere. It seems I will be waiting some time. Yesterday, Jack took to Twitter to confirm he’ll miss at least two, possibly three months with this mysterious ankle problem.
To put that in context, that’ll be more than a third of the season and is in danger of becoming half. Also, that recovery schedule assumes no set-backs, which considering our injury record seems more than a little unlikely. It explains why Arsene was so keen to pursue Arteta alongside other reported midfield targets like Rennes’ Yann M’Vila. The Spaniard has now joined up for training at London Colney, and is already making a good impression – it’s good news, as he’ll need to hit the ground running. Sprinting, even.
Arsenal may find themselves still reliant on Tomas Rosicky, who helped create an equaliser for the Czech Republic this weekend with an outstanding slide-rule pass. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, and I doubt he’ll ever be the player he might have been, but he does work hard and keep the ball moving. If he could add some goals to his game he would remain an important squad member.
Considering the injuries and departures elsewhere in the squad, it’s increasingly unfortunate Gervinho managed to get himself suspended for three league games. Arsene has spoken in his press conferences about how quickly the winger has settled and how he’s showing real confidence in training, and yet so far we’ve only seen glimpses. He was on the scoresheet for Ivory Coast at the weekend, which will have helped keep his form and fitness up. Swansea on Saturday will be the final match of his ban, and after that I expect him to become a regular name on the team-sheet.
Right. That really is all that’s going on at the moment. There’s another round of internationals tomorrow night – let’s hope our players come through unscathed and we can begin looking forward to a few debuts on Saturday…
