With no Arsenal on for a while, the only semi Arsenal related news is what the players have been getting up to while they are away. Nowhere near as interesting… but it’s something.
Players getting injured
The worst news to come in so far is that Theo Walcott got injured. The England international was taken home with a pelvic injury and is expected to miss “up to 10 days” which will probably mean he misses the Reading game on the 30th, but should be back for the West Brom game.
While it is unbelievably infuriating that Walcott has been injured for England again, this probably isn’t that bad for Arsenal. It might have been nice for him to get on the score sheet against San Marino, and build his confidence somewhat, it is not the end of the world for him to be out of action for a short amount of time. There were many that were calling for him to be dropped anyway, after a series of poor performances recently. Maybe some time off is a good thing for him.
Players returning
The only player to return to action was Lukas Podolski, after missing the Bayern Munich and Swansea games; he came on in the first half for Draxler in a routine victory against Kazakhstan.
Players twitter said scored but didn’t
After spending a while trying to find some footage of Frimpong’s alleged debut goal for Ghana on Thursday I realised I was, in fact, duped by twitter. Pretty easy to look up that they are not even playing until Sunday. Here is hoping the Fulham loanee can show why people got so excited about him in the first place.
Exactly the same happened thing with Vermaelen, people actually corrected/updated me on twitter after I listed the players to score for Arsenal; they were quick to inform me that Vermaelen should be on the list. He did not score. He did, however, help his side keep a clean sheet vs Macedonia as the Chelsea duo of De Bruyne and Hazard got the goals. Yet again a warning to anyone who will listen, people on twitter can make things up, and it can spread like wildfire as “fact”.
Players who actually scored
There were a plethora of Arsenal players that did, however, get on the score sheet. Aaron Ramsey’s penalty was in that fine line between brilliant and shocking. It went over the line so it was brilliant. His performance was then hampered by a slightly harsh sending off at the end. He was integral in Wales’ comeback against Scotland, and while the sending off may have been reckless, it probably ensured a win for the side he used to captain.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored a great goal, after some decent link up play with Rooney. He had a good game against a team of amateurs. It was good to see him playing with some confidence, even if the opposition didn’t look like they knew what they were doing. Hopefully he will keep the starting place that he earned against Swansea, capitalising on Walcott’s injury.
The other Arsenal scorer was Olivier Giroud, who headed his side into the lead just before half-time; before they went on to beat Georgia 3-1.
The Rest
Other Arsenal players to get some game time included Santi Cazorla, who came off in Spain’s game against Finland at half time, with the score at 0-0. The Spaniards went on to draw the game 1-1.
Tomas Rosicky came on just after his side went 1-0 down to Denmark, and was unable to stop the (Bendtnerless) Dane’s from getting in 2 more before the final whistle.
Wojciech Szczesny’s luck isn’t getting any better, as he was dropped for Southampton’s 33 year old keeper, Boruc. Fabianski did not make the Poland squad. Laurent Koscielny was an unused substitute.
Overall, the best that you can really hope for from an Arsenal point of view is that no new injuries come up and screw over our season. If player’s score goals and get confidence that is great, but only really worth anything (for Arsenal) if they can bring that form back and use it for the club.
Latest:
