As well as taking just two points from a possible nine from games we expected to win, Arsenal have picked up no fewer than five more injury problems, so how on earth do we recover from this nightmare month?
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Neil, who could have been celebrating a famous win had Wes Hoolahan buried an easy chance on half-time that he instead ballooned over the crossbar, said everyone has moved on from the unsavoury incident.
“It was a naive goal maybe”, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. “I put more technical players in the team to try to keep the ball better than we have done”.
“No I don’t regret it”, he said after the game.
But Mourinho played down the incident, saying: “If he wants to hurt me, it’s not with a bib”. The sight Arsenal fans dreaded came as the forward limped off to be replaced by Joel Campbell to become the ninth name on Arsenal’s growing injury list.
“The only reason he has not been playing is because there are other players ahead of him in the pecking order. He goes to South America to play, he comes back on Thursday night and on Saturday he can play without a problem, even if he’s jet-lagged”.
“It was, on the injury front, a bad afternoon for us”. “We will have to assess the injuries tomorrow”. During his time on the pitch on Sunday, he had the lowest average speed of any outfield player on the pitch – 5.28 kilometres per hour – which was also his lowest so far this season. Arsenal have only lost one of their last 13 meetings with Alex Neil’s side, winning seven of these games.
Wenger confirmed that Sanchez had a hamstring problem before the game and yet he risked him against Norwich – a decision that completely backfired.
Wenger must have been concerned when Ozil tumbled into a pit for press photographers behind one goal and Sanchez into a similar structure where a television camera and its operator were stationed.
It’s a sign of how dismal Chelsea’s Premier League title defense has been that Jose Mourinho called a draw at Tottenham the best performance of the season.
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Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain returned from hamstring injuries at Carrow Road, but Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta, Theo Walcott, Francis Coquelin, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky are all now sidelined. “It is about trying to make sure we curtail them as much as we possibly can, but also to try and expose the weaknesses that they have got”. Would Arsene Wenger listen to Arsenal supporters and would he bring another defensive midfielder?
