RvP Got a Dodgy Knee; Cesc Targets Barcelona Return

By: Sairax | March 3rd, 2011

Great win for the Gunners yesterday against Leyton Orient. Clichy’s well chuffed with his goal. Figures it was probably better than Nick’s hattrick. Good for him. Conor Henderson enjoyed his debut. He’s of course focused on the reserve team and taking his chances when Wenger brings him into the first team. I thought he did pretty well and looks to be a good prospect for us. The FA Cup quarterfinals will be played on the March 12/13 weekend and here are the teams that made it through:

Birmingham v Bolton
Manchester United v Arsenal
Stoke v West Ham
Manchester City v Reading

It’s going to be a short month for us in March with respect to fixtures. We’ve got Sunderland at the Emirates on Saturday, followed by trips to Camp Nou and Old Trafford next week. The only other game scheduled is West Brom at home on the 19th and then there’s an international break where our players will proudly represent their country and probably get injured for the rest of the season.

Speaking of injuries, it looks like RvP could be out for close to six weeks. Shocker. They say between four to six, but you just know it will be six. Heeeeeeeeere’s Wenger!:

“I am not a specialist but he overstretched his knee at the back when he made the volley. He got kicked or blocked by the defender and overstretched when he hit the ball. In fact we lost Van Persie after 30 minutes, we tried to keep him going in the second half but he was injured.

“It is a ligament at the back of the knee, a tear in the ligament. It is three to four weeks, I take the short delay because I am an optimist but it could be four. As well it is the international break during that period so whether it is three or four [weeks], for us it is the same.

“We have two weeks to play now and then there is a two-week break because of international games. We have to hope it is only four; he cannot play before the international break, that is for sure. Let’s hope he can play after the international break.”

Ok so Wenger is saying three to four and he’s thinking three because he lives in Magical Happy Wenger Land where van Persie never gets injured and all of the happy Gunner midgets frolic around with their limbs intact singing tra-la-la-la-la on their way to the Premiership trophy. There are some journos tweeting that they’ve heard six weeks. I guess we have to see. It’s possible he will be fit around the time of the international break, which basically always seems to happen with him doesn’t it? Then he goes off with the Netherlands and finds himself with some niggly setback or even more serious injury. Sigh. I leave you to pick a return date and begin your rehearsed “RvP has an injury” ritual and pray to the footballing gods.

In other injury news (you didn’t think that was it did you? Ha!) Cesc is running again and says he doesn’t feel any pain. That’s good to hear. He won’t feature on Saturday, but Wenger says Fabregas will train on Sunday and have a final test on Monday to see if he can play in the Barcelona tie. Knowing Cesc, he’s going to do everything possible to play in that game and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lead the side out on the pitch on Tuesday.

Saturday’s tie against Sunderland is a big one now. Win it and we go within a point of United. Lose or draw, and gooners everywhere will be crying bloody murder. Martin will take a look at what we’re up against in tomorrow’s blog. Until then!

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Category: Arsenal News, Arsene Wenger, Cesc Fabregas, FA Cup, Gael Clichy, Injury Report, Robin van Persie, Video

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Squash2034

Song injured... may not play against Barca. Song was terrible in the first leg.
I think Diaby is an adequate replacement. Anyone thinks Ramsey will start against Barca?
Martin

Kolo Toure fails a drug test and is suspended by Manchester City. The substance in question wasn't released, but early indications are that it was probably ephedrine or something else available over the counter. Here's hoping it was nothing more than an accident -- I know players have to know the rules and be responsible, but some of these anti-doping rules are very strict and something as innocent as taking cold & flu medication can result in a positive test.
JG

Same thing happened to Cannavaro a few years ago, with him saying it was treatment for a bee sting. Hope Kolo can get back on the pitch in no time.
Georgedb1

my guess is that RvP will not be fit again untill 2011/12 season; by his standards he's already played WAY too much this season already
Georgedb1

"... then there’s an international break where our players will proudly represent their country and probably get injured for the rest of the season." LMFAO!!! As soon as ou started talking about the international break I was hoping you would say something exactly like this!
Gigi_man

Oh Disqus doesnt want me replying to anyone, :(
Gigi_man

Agree with you, too bad. To go to Camp Nou we must be sure he is fully confident, nit test his confidence there..
Jamesberady

huh? wtf are you on about mate?
Gigi_man

@Jamesberady,
read above dude, it was supposed to be a reply to a comment about Kos not being fit for Saturday and then playing back after his mistake vs Barza.
Gigi_man

So the team needs to figure out a way for Sunderland, I dont think its impossible (to use the french way of forming sentences); we have done it very well as you pointed a while ago, without Cesc. And also without Robin.
Granted the victory was vs a lower division side, but the result was right, would have been a 1-0 I would be left wanting more, but we did what we had to do.
Its really sad for Robin though and I would, again, wave at the Arsenal medical staff...its just too often, no?
Darren_V

I'll just be happy if we actually see RVP on the pitch again this season, never mind this 3-6 weeks talk. He ALWAYS is out longer than originally thought.
jturphy

I'll be happy if he starts next season healthy. I'm sure we won't see him again this season, and I'm equally sure he'll play in the Euro qualifiers over the summer and aggravate the injury further and be out of action until December of next year. At least, judging on past experience this will probably happen.
Martin

Cesc and Song definitely out for Saturday. It will be interesting to see if it's Denilson or Diaby getting the start alongside Wilshere.

Also, Ramsey will probably be in the squad, and it wouldn't surprise me if he got a late-game substitute appearance, over a year after his injury against Stoke.
AMaps

According to Wenger, Kos is having a hamstring injury and might be out for Saturday. Bad news really, this could've been the game he needed to get back his confidence. I really, really don't wanna see him lose his nerves against Barca.
Martin

My favorite part of the press conference was Wenger trying to "demonstrate" what had happened to van Persie's knee. Only he tried to demonstrate with his elbow, which obviously bends the opposite way as a knee, and he just sort of ended up looking like David Byrne from the "Once in a Lifetime" video, or a very well-dressed heroin addict jonesin' for the brown sugar.

I think this next little stretch will be crucial. Honestly, at this point, my focus is on the league. I think Saturday's game is massive. I'm not overly optimistic about getting past Barcelona at the Nou Camp, and beating Manchester United at Old Trafford is going to be tough. But after that we have a week off until we play at West Brom, and then a 2-week break for internationals.

For once, the international break could come at a good time for us, as it could give us a chance to get some rest and get Theo and van Persie back, and Cesc back to full health for the run in.

Also, I don't know if this is true or not, but someone on Twitter today said that if we get a draw at Old Trafford, the replay would be played before the international break, and would postpone the West Brom league match until at least April.
Sairax

Same as it ever was
Gnaius

Just letting the days go by
Homey_Mills

I totally agree about the focus on the league. Even if we do get past Barca, we'd have to go through 3 more extremely tough teams to actually win the CL. While that's the biggest prize, it's just not as realistic at the moment.
However, if we're closer than 4 points back of Man Utd after the weekend, with a game in hand, I think we've suddenly become the favorites to win the league. So yeah, the Sunderland game is super huge.
Nikhil Gupta

But what better opportunity will we have to get past Barca in the CL? We're in a very good position and we have to take it now. Sure there are 3 tough matchups after this, but if we can dispatch Barca, we can beat anybody. Plus, 3 of the 5 games left on the CL calendar will be at home (or close to).

Sure the prem is very realistic, and we're very close and the path for us is straightforward, but our position in the CL is great and this is really a fantastic opportunity.

Plus, it would just be so incredibly sweet to beat Barca. It'll feel like spitting in Xavi's eye, and all summer while he squawks on about Cesc's Barca DNA, we can just point to this win, smile, and pat him on the head :-P
jturphy

I'm not sure I totally agree with this. I do agree that the focus needs to be on the league, but IF we do get past Barca, how are we not considered one of the favorites? We would have just beaten "the best team in the world." I'm not saying that it should be given any priority over the League, because it shouldn't, but it should be given as much of a priority as the League if we get past Barca.
JRcantdunk

Hercules beat barcelona in the league, it surely doesn't make them favorites to win the league does it?
jturphy

No, but they'd also have to beat out another 18 teams over 36 games. We'd have to beat out another 7 over 7 games. I also feel fairly confidant in saying that we are a fair bit better than Hercules.
Sairax

At the risk of sounding delusional or something, we can get through with a draw against Barca or even lose by a one goal margin, providing it's not 1-0
Homey_Mills

I'm not sure what I wrote was controversial. I think it's quite possible that we can get past Barca. But when you consider the difficulty in doing that, and then in beating 3 more top quality teams, it's a lot to ask. Whereas if we're 1 or 2 points away from Man Utd after the weekend, with a game in hand, I believe we become the odds-on favorite to win the league. (In my mind anyway.) And it's the best league in the world, of course, so it's not a bad prize.
So my point was just that I'm really looking forward to getting a win against Sunderland. That's all. Didn't say beating Barca would be impossible.
Martin

Yeah, I'm not sure how much stock I really put in it, although it's a very good predictor of results for international matches, but ESPN's Soccer Power Index ("SPI") right now basically says that Manchester United have about a 70% chance of winning the league, and we're at almost 30. That would go up if we won this weekend. And given their schedule, our schedule, and that they have to play us at home, I would say that may not be giving us enough credit. I'd say if we win against Sunderland there's at least a 1 in 3 chance of us winning the league.

Whereas I still think, although it's possible, there's a less than 25% chance of us even getting into the next round of the Champions League -- Barca is just so, so strong at home. And even if we manage to do that, like Homey said, there are many more difficult battles ahead. I'd say our chaces of winning the Champions League are about 5%.

And the FA Cup is probably somewhere in between. Just looking at Manchester United's home form this season, I'd say our chances of getting past them into the quarterfinals are somewhere around 25-30% as well. And then we'd have two more rounds after that, although other than Manchester City there aren't a lot of big teams left. I'd say our chances of winning the FA Cup are somewhere around 10-15%.

So just because I'm taking a break at work, I will compare my odds against those of a prominent oddsmaker -- Arsenal at 13/8 to win the league, 12/1 to win the Champions League, and 7/2 to win the FA Cup. Those don't match up with my percentages, but you wouldn't really expect them to, since they want to keep betting odds short of the actual odds. But the ratios between competitions are pretty close to mine, I think, and make the same basic point -- that we're about 3 times more likely to win the league than we are any other competition.

And that's why I would definitely agree with Homey that our focus needs to be on the league. And yes, I used to have a gambling problem.
Sairax

Bah, what were the odds on Brum winning the Carling Cup? You can win nothing if you don't beeeelieeeeeeve
Sairax

Nah it's not you Homey, but a lot of people don't think we stand a chance. (Not gonna lie, I'd love to win Champions League so I don't really want to be knocked out ;) )
Gigi_man

interesting debate. So convincing arguments that my mind goes anywhere. Although I love to read Sairax enthousiasm, I am more realistic (only because I take care of my already broken heart).
But usually Martin lifts me up....are u joining Homey as well, you? welcome, I am member ·2 (also ·2 in the Arsha two-men-club hahaha)
Sairax

Right now, it's all about Sunderland. Let's take one game at a time ;)