You Know the Season is Finally Here When Our Entire Squad is Injured

By: Martin | August 13th, 2009

Arsenal’s team doctor, pictured at right, has had a pretty busy summer. Unsurprisingly, before we’ve even played our first match, we’re beset by injuries to many key players.

Arsene Wenger has told the official website that:

“We have some problems. We have Theo Walcott (back), who is not available. Diaby has a little groin problem but he could be available. [Also] we have lost Johan Djourou and Lukasz Fabianksi because they had injuries. Lukasz had a cartilage surgery. He will be out for two months. Johan has a knee problem that will take some time to cure – one month. Thomas Vermaelen played 45 minutes for Belgium last night and came through OK so he will be available. Tomas Rosicky is two weeks away. Samir Nasri [is out] three-and-a-half weeks now. But it will be six or seven weeks until he is available for training.”

What. The. Frak. How have we lost six players before we’ve even played a game? And we’ve got Gallas fit, Vermaelen is “available,” and then after that, you’ve got Senderos, who’s unsettled and may not even dress against the team he will probably be playing for in a week or so, and then Silvestre. To make this point absolutely clear–IT’S THE FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON, AND THERE’S A GOOD CHANCE SILVESTRE WILL BE STARTING AT CENTER BACK. NOT OKAY, WENGER. Not okay.

I hope Diaby can come through his “little groin problem.” Chin up, Abou–I hear size doesn’t matter. In all seriousness, this is pretty distressing. I’m not sure how we’ve got that many people injured, especially since we haven’t played all week. Ugh. I’ll get into this in tomorrow’s preview, but I think between the injuries and Vela flying back from Mexico, our options will be pretty limited, lineup-wise.

There’s a music biz joke that goes: Q: How do you know when Morrissey is on tour? A: When he’s cancelling shows.

I guess the football analogy would be: Q: How do you know it’s football season? A: When Arsene Wenger is having to piece together a patchwork lineup.

Sigh.