Category Archives: Arsenal

Serious injury to Danny Welbeck overshadows Arsenal qualification

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Danny Welbeck’s Arsenal career could be over having suffered a “very big injury” after he was carried off on a stretcher during the side’s Europa League game against Sporting Lisbon on Thursday.

The testimony from Arsenal photographer was replicated by former colleagues and team mates up and down the country.

In a game which is consumed by greed, arrogance and controversy, Welbeck was one of the good guys.

A hard working pro, he never sought the limelight, never courted scandal. He was never on the front pages falling out of clubs with a desperate skank on his arm. Never pictured drunk, smoking or getting into an argument. He kept his private life and his love life private. He was the model professional.

The injury to Danny Welbeck – in such innocuous circumstances, is gutting.

His career as Arsenal was potentially already coming to an end. With just 8 months left on his contract, and turning 28 towards the end of this month, Welbeck was fighting for his future. Whether that be with Arsenal or elsewhere. He was fighting for his last long term contract. Last 4-year deal.

It is still not clear how long Welbeck will be out injured.

“He is at the hospital. The news is that we are going to wait, but we think it’s a serious injury,” said Arsenal boss Unai Emery.

“Every injury is different. This could be a break of something in the ankle.

“It’s clear that we’re with him in these minutes. He’s a very good person and his commitment with us is very big.

“It’s a very big injury for him, for us, for all people who like and love him as a person.”

Welbeck was hurt in the 25th minute when he jumped for a header and landed badly on his right ankle.

He received oxygen and had his leg in a protective brace as he was taken off the pitch, with up to 10 medical staff around him as he received treatment.

After an injury like that, the result was secondary. The goalless secured a place in the last 32 of the Europa League.

Arsenal are a classy club, and even if the decision was already made that Welbeck would not get a new contract, I expect we will rehabilitate him and allow him to use our facilities, doctors and physios for as long as it takes for him to fully recover. whether it be 6 months or a year.

We wish Danny Welbeck a speedy recovery.

Keenos

Book Review: Arsenal – The Complete Record

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So I purchased this book, thinking I’m just getting a book rammed with stats and facts, something I enjoy looking up from time to time, but I got so much more for my money and that’s before I mention the huge 595 page count, coincidence (?)

As a kid I would waste away the time sat on the Central line travelling home from games reading the match programme from front to back, so it feels very comfortable that each seasons stats are laid out like they are in official programme. You get to see who played, who scored, who was subbed for every game and it just feels like second nature reading it.

This isn’t the type of book you are going to take away to relax to on holiday, even the biggest statto in the world could never consume the huge amount of information that has been collated here and to be honest, get yourself up the bar ! But what makes this special is that on every season there is a write up on how it went and a write up on a player who was relevant to that season, so if you want a softer read then those very enjoyable sections are just for you.

This however is the type of book that is a must to put on your shelf or coffee table and consume at your own pace. Everything you would want to know and much more. I have found myself reading the book from the back to the front, as odd as that seems I’m just getting to the mid-90s and the memories keep flooding back.

As a bonus at the end of the book there’s tables for literally everything you would ever want to know, players appearances, goals scored, complete records Vs other clubs, overseas players, it has everything you could need for a brain teaser to mates in your Whatsapp groups or in the pub before games.

Now we are in an age where you are often only a google search away from finding the most obscure fact or stat on The Arsenal, even if often you can’t trust the source, but Josh James, Mark Andrews and Andy Kelly have painstakingly gone back to the very start in 1886 and collated it in what must be the definitive bible for all on field matters of The Arsenal.

If I hadn’t jumped the gun this book would be top of my Xmas wish list from the kids and I will be buying another copy to give to an uncle who I know will be eating up all the information in the same manner he does his pigs in blankets.

I would urge you all to buy it, this book isn’t just for Xmas!

Arsenal – The Complete Record by Josh James, Andy Kelly & Mark Andrews is available from Amazon now for £19.49.

She Wore

Wojciech Szczesny, Attendances & Tottenham breach advertising rules

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Wojciech Szczesny

Last night against Manchester United, we saw why Arsenal were happy to let him go a few years back – firstly on loan to Roma and then on a permanent move to Juventus.

Capable of unbelievable saves, Szczesny will retire with a magnificent highlights reel. However he has a bloopers reel to match.

A lot was made on him being signed for Juventus to replace the legendary Gianluigi Buffon, but he was actually signed as his number 2.

Since Buffon left over the summer, he has been promoted to number 1.

Playing for Juventus, his flaws are not often exposed. 10 wins and a draw from the 11 games this season, the Old Lady dominate Serie A to the point that I could be in goal and they would still be top.

Every time he pulls out a World Class save, you get Arsenal fans commenting that he is “one that got away”, but as the errors against Manchester United showed, he is still a very flawed keeper.

As Paul Scholes said last night, has he really improved that much since leaving Arsenal?

Attendances

Every time Arsenal get a sub-50,000 attendance at the Emirates it makes national news.

A lot of fuss was made in 2011 “when only 46,539 fans rocked up to the Emirates” for a League Cup game against Shrewsbury. The lowest attendance at a game at the new ground was then “broken” when 44,064 tickets were sold for another League Cup tie – this time against Doncaster in 2017.

This year we have seen stories about 48,168 and 49,586 going to games against Brentford and Blackpool respectively.

For this reason I am surprised why Tottenham’s attendance against PSV this week has failed to make the news.

Some will say that the capacity for games at Wembley has been capped by Brent Council. However Tottenham announced that all three group stage Champions League matches and the game against Manchester City were to be full capacity.

Their attendances this season make you wonder why they are building a 62,000 seater stadium.

Tottenham breach advertising rules

Whilst I am on about Tottenham, a little bit of humorous news for us all.

We all remember the advertisement campaign that they had running over the summer in Underground stations, trolling fans of Arsenal and Chelsea by declaring that their new ground would be “the only place to watch UEFA Champions League in London”. Well it seems that advert is about to come back and bite them.

Well this has now come to the attention of the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) who have concluded that “the ad was likely to have breached advertising rules”.

Up the Arsenal

Keenos