With the game at Old Trafford looming large this week, it’s clear we are in for our usual battle and could find ourselves without as many as SEVEN (yes, in capital letters) injured players for the clash on Saturday lunchtime. This figure could get even higher (EIGHT or even NINE) by the time KICK-OFF (sorry) comes around.
Laurent Koscielny is fully in the dark poppy zone, and Alexis Sanchez is 100% in the rare velociraptor fillet steak double red zone, still to possibly play another game for his country this week before swimming back to London from South America.
Cazorla, Bellerin and possibly Kieran Gibbs are all out, along with long term absentees Lucas Perez and Per Mertesacker, while the fitness of Sanchez is still to be seen following his exploits with his national team, where he’s already picked up an injury and shaken it off.
However, one man, who’s been forgotten in all of this, who could prove VERY useful in the new year, is Danny Welbeck who has been out for since May after picking up a serious knee injury and despite surgery, Arsene Wenger is realistic and hopeful that he could return in just a few weeks.
He offered some good news recently though via The Mirror, saying that Welbeck will start running again in just two weeks time, and he said he’s ahead of schedule, and could be back ‘like a new signing’ in January.
Welbeck’s old club Manchester United have problems of their own ahead of the clash. Wayne Rooney struggling to be fit, missing for England tonight, Ibrahimovic suspended, Bailey, and Smalling also injured, with Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia both struggling.
The game could see us leapfrog Liverpool to the summit of the Premier League in the early 12pm lunchtime kick off as we look to bury our recent Old Trafford hoodoo.
Beating Jose and Man United at Old Trafford would be nothing short of a very satisfying double victory and give our beleaguered troops a lift ahead of yet another difficult game at home to PSG next week in the Champions League. The United away game is a fixture we have struggled to take anything from over recent seasons, so lets hope this Saturday this can all change and we can take all three points and put some pressure on the chasing Premier League pack.
