Bournemouth away.
The injuries are piling up for The Arsenal with Thomas Partey, Gabriel Martinelli, Leandro Trossard, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, Fabio Vieira and Jurrien Timber all missing training this week due to issues.
Eight players injured is a concern this early in the season, and questions have been asked of our conditioning. But Arsenal are not the only ones with a bit of an injury crisis.
There are 127 players currently listed as injured, an average of 6.35 players per club. So our 8 players out is only a smidgen above the average.
I do wonder why there are so many injuries so early in the season.
Is it the American pitches that many clubs did pre-season on? Is it the shorter summer break due to last winters World Cup and the very late international fixtures that saw players still playing in mid June? Is it the extra injury time players are now playing? Or is it jusr a coincidence? I am sure the Twitter experts amongst you will have your opinion.
Bournemouth have 6 players out, so for me, injuries is not really an excuse if we fail to win today.
Our injuries do give Mikel Arteta a headache as to who starts today.
To build our expected starting XI, you are best off starting with those regulars that are fully fit: David Raya, Ben White, Gabriel, Olexsandr Zinchenko, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus. Those 6 will be joined by Eddie Nketiah and Kai Havertz.
Some of Arteta’s problems might be solved if Vieira and Saliba shake off their knocks.
On the pair, Arteta said yesterday: ‘William had a knock, and Fabio (Vieira) wasn’t involved in the last game, so we have to assess them today to see how they are.’
If both pass the fitness test, then I would expect to see:
Raya
White Saliba Gabriel Zinchenko
Jorginho
Vieira Odegaard Havertz Jesus
Nketiah
If they are both ruled out, that is when the headaches begin for Arteta.
Starting with Saliba, Arteta’s best option may be to move Ben White into centre back and play Takehiro Tomiyasu at right back. I am sure this would have been the plan pre-season when we opted not to sign another central defender.
I have just remembered White was wide and Tomi central mid-week against Bournemouth so Arteta will probably opt for that.
If Vieira is out injured, it will probably be either Reiss Nelson or Emile Smith Rowe that comes in. Both played v Brentford and the current injury issues shows how important it is to give these fringe players game time in England’s 3rd competition.
Another concern for Arteta is what game changers he has on the bench. He has recently spoken about having “game finishers” on the bench – players held back who can come on with 30 minutes to go and make a difference whether we are attacking or defending a lead.
Arteta might opt to leave Nketiah on the bench and play Jesus through the middle. The wingers then being both Smith Rowe and Nelson.
There is also a crazy thought that Jakub Kiwior might go into left back, Zinchenko into midfield and Havertz on the bench. That will allow Arteta to call on both Havertz and Nketiah for that final 30 minutes.
I am a rugby man, so I get the finishers ideology made famous by Eddie Jones. But I would be concerned if keeping a couple of players back weakens us too much. With so many injuries, we are best off playing our strongest XI and going hard and fast. Try and win the game inside 60 minutes and then we can make some subs to protect players for Tuesday.
Predicted starting XI:
Raya
White Tomiyasu Gabriel Zinchenko
Jorginho
Nelson Odegaard Havertz Jesus
Nketiah
Up The Arsenal
Keenos
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