Arsenal have started to move beyond the two things that threatened to seriously derail their season in the opening few months: Injuries and suspension. Together, they have seen Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka, and each member of the backline plus Mikel Merino all miss matches.
Leandro Trossard has also been out at points, so have regular absentees Oleksandr Zinchenko, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus, and more recently Kai Havertz. Since returning from the November international break, though, most of this has been put behind Arsenal.
The ‘dark arts’ conversation has quietened and results (maybe more importantly, performances) have picked up. In the last two weeks alone they have scored 13 times and are now moving ahead of Manchester City to create some early daylight in the table.
However, fitness issues have resurfaced despite Odegaard being back. Here, football.london brings a fresh look at the latest injury problems facing the club with the higfootball.londonh-profile visit of Manchester United next up.
Knee problems
According to reports online, Arsenal academy midfielder Michal Rosiak has suffered a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury. Picked up during a friendly played behind-closed-doors last month, the Polish youth international is now set for a period on the sidelines.
Rosiak has been a regular in the Under-21 side so far this season and had started every game until Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Brighton, which he missed. He has scored twice in eight matches for the team in Premier League 2 action.
Unlike the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) which can be a season-ending injury needing nine months of recovery time, MCL problems are often less serious. Riccardo Calafiori, for example, was out for just over a month earlier this season with the same issue.
For Rosiak, this could see him back in time for the return of Under-21 football next year. There is set to be a winter break following Arsenal’s next PL2 game at home to Sunderland on Monday, December 16.
football.london says: This is clearly a massive shame for Rosiak but fortunately isn’t likely to keep him out for as long as it might have. The 19-year-old will be aiming to impress as he seeks to make a breakthrough in senior football sooner rather than later.
At this stage it doesn’t look as if that will come at Arsenal. However, it has been shown that simply being part of the Hale End system can benefit a player as they progress through their career. For Rosiak there is no reason why the same cannot be true moving forward.
Loan curse
It’s not just Arteta’s squad who have struggled with injuries either. On-loan left-back Nuno Tavares has seen his impressive start to life at Lazio cut short by a recent hamstring setback.
Having left Arsenal to join the Serie A side, he quickly registered eight assists from eight matches before a suspension and injury since, which have seen him play only 75 minutes since the end of October. Fortunately for Tavares, he will return to the field in the near future.
“Nuno Tavares, if he’s not available for the Coppa Italia game, will be back for the league game,” manager Marco Baroni explained. For Lazio, the lack of Tavares hasn’t stopped them from continuing a good first half of the season.
They won two of the three without Tavares and sit fifth in the table, just four points off leaders Napoli and two ahead of Juventus in sixth. They host Antonio Conte’s Scudetto chasing Napoleans next on Thursday.
football.london says: Like Rosiak, Arsenal do have a vested interest in how Tavares deals with this injury. Although he won’t be returning to the Emirates Stadium to play a role under Arteta it will surely impact his transfer value.
It was only last month that Lazio club president Lotito said that he wouldn’t want to sell the player for even £60million. Arsenal are set to get considerably less than that when his loan turns into a permanent deal via the obligation to buy.
That price is thought to be less than £8million which is a small number compared to what his current form might have him pitched at. Nevertheless, both parties are aware that they are going their separate ways here. Arteta never really took to Tavares and it wasn’t a surprise when an exit was arranged.
The rest
As for the actual first team, Arsenal supporters will be nervously waiting on updates from Arteta ahead of the visit of United. Gabriel Magalhaes is chief among the doubts.
He was taken off at half-time against West Ham with a reoccurrence of the injury that saw him removed with five minutes left at Sporting just three days earlier, rather than due to a punch in the head he took from Lukasz Fabianski. Defensive partner Riccardo Calafiori was also subbed off.
Arteta explained that Calafiori was being carefully managed following fitness issues in his first four months at the club. Thomas Partey and Mikel Merino aren’t as lucky. They both missed the 5-2 win over West Ham.
football.london says: Along with Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu, Arsenal’s backline is taking a bit of a beating at the moment. To be without Gabriel against United would be a serious blow, especially with Jurrien Timber and Calafiori needed to cover at full-back and therefore leaving Jakub Kiwior as replacement centre-back.
Knowing Arsenal and Arteta of late, though, Gabriel will be back in from the start. The manager plays it coy and says very little. He will surely do the same on Tuesday when facing the media before naming a strong group to face Ruben Amorim.
The good thing is that even with all of these doubts, it doesn’t feel like a crisis anymore for Arsenal. That is what a few good wins can do.
