By Kc Emmanuels
October 20, 2014
Arsenal injury woes continue to pile up, this time its Czech midfielder Thomas Rosicky who joins the long list of injured player at the Emirate.
Rosicky becomes the fourth Arsenal player to return from international duties injured after Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny and Danny Welbeck all returned from the international break nursing one degree of injury or the other.
Rosicky picked up a calf injury in Czech’s 2-1 win over Turkey in their Euro 2016 qualifiers and did not feature in the side’s 4-2 win over Kazakhstan on Monday. The player confirmed the injury where he said:
“I couldn’t do any sharp movement, couldn’t sprint,” he said.
“If I tried to play in one tempo, I wouldn’t make any difference for the team.”
“I’ll come back to London and we’ll see. The doctor said I have something swollen between the muscles.”
The player has returned to the club but it is however, not clear yet how long he will be side lined with the latest injury.
Arsenal are having it hard on the injury front with Mesut Ozil set to miss the remainder of the year through a knee ligament injury he sustained while on duty with Germany during their Euro 2016 qualifiers preparation.
Koscielny had Achilles problem and was withdrawn from the French team that played Portugal in a friendly.
Danny Welbeck was also substituted in the 80th minute of England’s 1-0 away win over Estonia after sustaining an ankle injury.
England manager Roy Hodgson has however explained that the injury was not anything serious and expects the player to be back in action for Arsenal before the weekend game against Hull City.
Koscielny could also return for Hull City game but both players would have to be accessed by Arsenal medics.
Arsenal already have a long list of players in the doctor’s room, with David Ospina (Hip/Thigh), Mesut Ozil (LCL Knee Ligament), Mikel Arteta (Calf/Shin), Aaron Ramsey (Hamstring), Yaya Sanogo (Hamstring), Mathieu Debuchy (Ankle/Foot), Olivier Giroud (Ankle/Foot) all out injured early in the season and Wenger will hope Rosicky latest injury doesn’t keep him out for too long.
Rosicky has been a bit part of Arsene Wenger’s plan this season, making just one start and five substitute appearances for the Gunners in all competition so far this season. With Ozil long term injury, one would expect this is the time for him to see regular football action.
Wenger and his medics must now look into the Arsenal squad and device means of avoiding this long queue of injured players at the club. The Arsenal team have the longest list of injuries at the moment in the English Premier league and this does not speak well for a club like Arsenal who need all their players fit to have a chance of fighting at all fronts.
There is however good news for the club as long time absentee- Theo Walcoth resumes training with the rest of the squad after returning from a nine month old injury. He will give Wenger options in attack when fit as Arsenal only have Welbeck and the out-of-favour Lukas Podolski as the only fit attackers.
