Monday 16 November 2009

Injury Update 16/11/09


http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,16989_5697361,00.html

The headline injury news from the international weekend is that Arsenal have a huge striker problem to contend with after Robin Van Persie was ruled out for at least a month - and most likely far longer than that - after rupturing ankle ligaments. With Theo Walcott a near-permament crock this year, Carlos Vela back on the sidelines, and Nicklas Bendtner undergoing a groin operation last week, it leaves Arsenal with just Eduardo to lead their attack. And how likely is it that he will manage to last even a few games before breaking down again?

But it's not just Arsenal who are fretting over the fitness of their star striker.

The Suns says that Chelsea, already rocked by the loss of Frank Lampard and the withdrawal of John Terry from England's friendly with Brazil, could be without Didier Drogba for three weeks with a broken rib.

'A scan carried out by the club showed Drogba suffered only bruising after clashing with United defender Jonny Evans. But SunSport can reveal a further X-ray done by Ivory Coast doctors confirmed the worst,' the newspaper reported at the weekend.

Quite how Evans escaped scrutiny over his challenge is, however, something no scan will be able to reveal.

In any case, the likelihood is that Chelsea will resume the league season next weekend without Drogba, Lampard, both of their first-choice full-backs, and possibly Terry as well. So it's probably just as well that their opponents next Saturday as one of the league's lesser lights in Wolves.

Now this sounds nasty. According to Germany coach Jogi Luuuuuurve, Chelsea's Teuton-in-chief Michael Ballack has a problem with his knee, and will therefore miss their game with Ivory Coast on Wednesday.

Luuuuuuurve said: "He has an infection in the back of the knee and there has been a reaction. After consultation with the doctors - I also spoke to Michael Ballack - I have decided that he will not play.

"He needs two or three days of rest. It makes no sense to take risks, also in terms of Chelsea as they have quite a few games leading up to Christmas and afterwards."

The weekend did, however, bring some good news on the injury front because..
Tottenham have scotched talk that Carlo Cudicini would never play football again following his road accident by predicting that the Italian will make a full comeback.

"Both specialists are extremely pleased with the result and expect a good recovery," Wayne Diesel, head of Spurs' medical services, told the club's official website. "Carlo is in a lot less discomfort and is in good spirits." Cudicini arrived at White Hart Lane in January following a decade at Chelsea and has made eight appearances to date.

Another man who might be slightly happier this morn is Alex Ferguson, assuming that the fitness of Dimitar Berbatov is something that makes him happy.

The Bulgarian star of the Godfather Part III has missed United's last two games with knee issues, but he now claims he has recovered fully and will play for his country this week.

"I received a kick in my knee during the Blackburn match and I needed some rest and some treatment, but I'm okay now and I'll play in Malta," Berbatov told the Bulgarian press, which obviously we're keen followers of.

The Bulgaria squad sounds like a dangerous place at the moment. Martin Petrov looks like he'll face a spell out after twanging his knee while on international duty.

He'll therefore miss the next couple of weeks for Manchester City, but given that he hasn't been in the team much lately, that won't be a crushing blow.

Back to Blighty now, and Steve Bruce is not the happiest of bunnies. Sunderland keeper Craig Gordon had his arm broken by an errant Jermain Defoe kick, and it looks like it will be next year before he's back.

Bruce said: "Craig's injury is the most disappointing thing to come out of the last couple of weeks.

"It looks as if it's going to be three months. We've not had much luck in that respect - that's two serious injuries in a month."

Cheers,
AM

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now they've got Drogba?!
Well, we thought his 0.5 points last week was his worst... and he's about to give us a couple of zeros. And still, drop him? Really? It's like dropping Vermaelen!
I was very happy with RvP in my team before his unfortunate injury, so I picked up for now Rooney instead. I've never had him before, and at home, against his old club, when Berbs is a doubt... you see what I mean.
The other question was what to do with the left-overs. I've toyed with the idea of Eduardo, but though I believe Arsenal will score, I absolutely have no clue which of the players will. Zamora stays, because he's a DG, and I couldn't find any DG defender that I like better than Hughes.
But maybe Ivanovic home to Wolves? Warnock? Are the DGs so worth it?

Help!

SF

Bojan said...

I think that Drogba and Vermalen are going out this week...

P.S. I can't belive that I am writing this

Doctor Teeth said...

I don't think any player - Drogba included - is worth three weeks' of goose eggs. If by the end of this week that prognosis is confirmed as accurate, I will likely drop him...with any lucj, his price would be down in the 14-15s when he returns to action

Anonymous said...

'A scan carried out by the club showed Drogba suffered only bruising after clashing with United defender Jonny Evans. But SunSport can reveal a further X-ray done by Ivory Coast doctors confirmed the worst,' the newspaper reported at the weekend...the worst meaning a fracture? It's a vague sentence, leaving one to infer from the mention of a possible fracture

Whose scans would you trust more, one of the top clubs in the world of a professional sports team whose investments are at stake, or health care in Africa?

If it is a fracture, you've really got to wonder about Chelsea, if their docs missed something like that. Unless it's just one of those games clubs play with injury news and they knew all along.

OK, enough conspiracy-minded rampant speculation. :)

Maxer said...

ow no.. not drogba too!!.. i'm okay with the rvp injury news (altho sad that one of the best fantasy point scorer is injured) because i can upgrade to other good player capable of scoring.. but drogba, with his $10.7 price.. who's capable of replacing him?.. saha?..

Maxer

Anonymous said...

You can consider Eduardo. The only center forward Arsenal has left. But they are entering a tough run of fixtures so maybe won't be scoring freely like they did in previous rounds.

Anonymous said...

with all these big player injuries, looks like the next 2 weeks of picks could make or break the season..... picking up the 6-8 value player that turns to 12 from the boys that are out
+super premium on Fab4 now surely and what price Arshavin to be progressed further upfield?

bean said...

PRoblem
Verm,G.Alex,Evans
Fab,Giggs,Dunn,Murph,Geo
Yak,EdS

Bradley said...

In non-injury news, Dave Kitson loaned out to Boro for two months:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/m/middlesbrough/8364175.stm

Anonymous said...

Hughes with 2 games, or Ivanovic with 1?

SF

Anonymous said...

Drogba is definately worth keeping over 3 weeks of injury...until you factor in the ACN...how many weeks out of the next 12 will he actually play?

bean said...

@Bradley - maybe that means Tuncay will see the pitch?

bean said...

Gibbs now injured
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/gibbs-off-injured-in-england-under-21-match?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arsenal-news+%28News+Feed%29

Mike B said...

Who on earth will replace a replacement left back?

bean said...

@Mike B - maybe Eboue can play on the left?

Anonymous said...

Vermaelen can play left back. What worries me is that Philip "Can't See the Ball" Senderos could play centre. I shiver.

SF

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