Happy Friday to you, and it’s the eve of the North London derby when we start again after Interlull.
Mikel Arteta will meet with the press this afternoon and there will be some concern about the physical condition of some players. How much information we get from the manager is something else: The real reveal of our injury situation will probably be in our team’s lineup when it drops on Saturday, but maybe we’ll get something concrete on the likes of Thomas Partey and Takehiro Tomiyasu.
One man who will not be available is Emile Smith Rowe, after it was announced yesterday that he had surgery for a groin problem. The club says:
In recent months, Emile Smith Rowe has been experiencing groin discomfort, which has limited his training and match appearances.
Following a significant setback in our Premier League match against Manchester United at Old Trafford on September 4, and following further specialist consultations and discussions with our medical team, Emile underwent surgery to repair a damaged tendon in his groin.
This successful surgery took place in London in the last few days and Emile’s rehabilitation program is now underway. We are hopeful that Emile will return to full training in December.
It’s a shame, but not a huge surprise when you consider how he’s been struggling for minutes this season. It wasn’t just Gabriel Martinelli’s form that kept him out of the team, it was this constant problem that meant he didn’t have a standout pre-season, and that seemed to have impacted him towards the end of last season as I described. earlier this month.
Now it means he will be out of action until after the World Cup, which seems like a long way off, but we actually have 6 weeks until the break. Sure, there’s a lot of football between now and then, and I’d feel more comfortable with this next race with a fully fit Smith Rowe available, but there’s also a lot of football after the tournament is over, and I guess the sensible call. is to make sure you’re ready for it.
Having already had the surgery, when you add in the period that he will miss plus the period when football stops for the World Cup, we are looking at around 10/11 weeks, by which time we hope he can be back to normal. . Assuming the surgery is successful, of course, but fingers crossed on that, because he’s had a number of injuries early in his career that may well be related to an underlying problem. You’ll remember he was loaned out to RB Leipzig but he didn’t play, and again that was listed as a groin problem. So let’s hope the surgery fixes this, and once he’s back, he’ll be ready to stay in shape and contribute in the second half of this strange season.
The big problem for Mikel Arteta is that the Smith Rowe/Martinelli left side was very well balanced in terms of quality, even if they are different in their way of playing. Let’s not forget that Smith Rowe was also our second leading scorer last season, so we’re short on goals, and it’s a problem for the manager in this hectic one because there’s no obvious replacement. There are things he could do, move players etc, but if we assume at this point that Marquinhos is the man who will replace Bukayo Saka on the right, who is that player on the left?
When I wrote about this the other day, I completely forgot about Reiss Nelson, which might say more about my memory than anything else, but he is a player who has fallen through the cracks a bit. I didn’t expect him to be here this season, but injury meant he couldn’t go anywhere else, and even though he hasn’t played much on the left, when we have Europa League games we have to be careful. of Martinelli’s minutes, maybe it’s an option.
I’d be very surprised if he had a longer-term future here, but the coach will have to use his entire team in October and early November, and Nelson has enough experience to do a job there if called on. He is now back in full training, and as we prepare for the derby this weekend and Liverpool in the league next weekend, there is a Bodo/Glimt game to consider sandwiched between them. I don’t even think this is so much an opportunity for Nelson as a way for the coach to rest more important players, but he might as well see it as a way to put himself back in the limelight while he considers his long-term future. future. Let’s see how it goes.
Right, that’s your batch for this morning. She left you with a new Arsecast chatting with Rory Smith about his fascinating new book ‘Expected Goals’, which will please him whether he likes statistics or not. We’ll also have to launch our Patreon preview podcast for everyone later today, I’ll record it a bit later when I get to London, and it should be late afternoon.
For now, have a good time!
