Arsene has confirmed that Cesc has injured his medial knee ligaments and will miss between one and three weeks. He said the injury was “difficult to assess”, admitted it was a blow, but that the team would “have to cope with it”.
They certainly will. He’ll be missing at Villa Park for sure. A three week lay-off would also rule him out of home fixtures against Portsmouth and Bolton in the league, games which should be very winnable with or without Cesc. And he would surely have been rested againt Plymouth on January 3rd in any case.
It’s a big big blow, but the positive angle would be that he’s only going to miss one really big game and at least Cesc will finally get a rest and we could see him back to his imperious best in the New Year as a result.
On today’s evidence, it will be Diaby who steps into the breach. He needs to take this chance to nail down his status as an important player in the squad.
We’ve never needed him more and he’ll never get a better opportunity to prove himself in his preferred position. Over to you, Abou.
Latest Update: Guillem Balague, the well-respected Spanish journalist has claimed that Cesc’s injury may be much worse than originally thought. He describes “private fears” within the dressing room that in fact Cesc has torn a cruciate knee ligament, a severe injury which would see him sidelined until well into next year. He’ll have a scan tomorrow, a prognosis which could well decide our season.
I hate to say it on this occasion, but Balague is a top journalist with excellent connections and astute instincts. Let’s just hope he’s been talking to the wrong people.
Tags: Abou Diaby, Arsene Wenger, Cesc Fabregas, Guillem Balague
December 21st, 2008 at 8:10 pm
It will be Denilson who steps into the breach, if by the “breach” you mean the Cesc role. It’s a great opportunity for the young Brazilian to establish an even firmer hold on a mid-field berth. There’s no doubt in my mind that when Cesc does eventually move on (as he undoubtedly will circa age 25-27) Denilson will have been groomed to slip in behind him. Densilson and Song were both excellent in mid-field today, both outshone Alonso and Gerrard.
I think we may see a mid-field of Eboue, Denilson, Song, Nasri at Villa. Robin will play just behind Bendtner (on for Ade if it). Vela will start if Bendy is still crocked.
Diaby just can’t seem to cut it when given the chance to inspire faith in him. I feel he’s gone backwards since the start of LAST season when he looked quite good and was scoring from the inside left position. Will he ever be fit enough to impress then hold down a permanent position?
December 21st, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Bergkamp’s the Man, interesting points. I still think we’ll see Diaby in the team in the middle or down a wing.
On the long-term Fabregas replacement, I think the real replacement will be Ramsey, but we’ll see. Probably we’ll have Aaron and Denilson playing side by side as a more balanced pair than the more fashionable one forward one back idea we’ve gone with recently.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Enjoyable first half, lively and effective play with notable good and positive attitude among the players. Great turn and score by rvp.
Midfield left vacuous post fab. Strength in depth for the next two weeks top list of AFC’s issues once again.
Mr Webb an atrocious display, at best a man lost, at worst causing deliberate harm to the game, the league, and to himself. A scintillating game descended into a torpid, tactical and ultimately unwatchable, spanish/italian type game at the hands of one man tasked solely with the responsilibty to maintain the integrity of the game. The tackle on fab far worse than Ade shielding the ball and the pudlian playacting making a meal of nothing. To say that Mr Webb failed in his duty today would be generous indeed. Mr. Webb, I fear you have been found once again to be biased and as such you are unacceptable as a referee on any stage.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:02 pm
I would like to comment on the article but I would rather comment on Coward Webb first. I just wonder why the FA don’t seem to be able to get us any other ref except him . He is obviously anti Arsenal and though Ade deserves his red card but Sagna should have been booked.
As for Diaby, he can’t make a good pass, can’t defende, can’t play in the midfield or on the wings, can’t attack like last season. The only thing he seems to be able to do prefectly well is to be useless and annoying. I wonder why Wenger keeps trusting him when He alongside Bendtner should have been packaged in a box and given out as xmas gift to a conference league side.
Honestly Diaby is becoming too useless and it is high time he improved or play for the female team – that’s if they will accept him though.
http://soccerfanbase.com
December 21st, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Ok, maybe i’m being a tad harsh on Mr Web, and i’ll back off him a bit, but the league must realise that in effect a red card in such a circumstance is utterly misplaced. And undeniably, it happens, but the referee just had a stinker today. I would hope the cause would be his intent to be non-biased after last season’s poor decision making which was, massive understatement, costly to us.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Grabs, even when we had Flamini, Hleb and Rosicky available, my dream mid-feld, “at maturity” was Diaby, Cesc, Denilson. I’m on track with two of these, but I’ve lost hope that Diaby will emerge as the third. I think Aaarn Ramsey is a superb youngster. He has more drive and tenacity than Cesc or Denilson but doesn’t have their innate skill set. They’ll be a good trio to build the team around. I’d slip Song into central defence with JD 20 and play 4-3-3 with any one of Robin, Ade, Dudu, Vela, Neutron Jack, Nasri up front depending on form or the opposition. Note no Bendy. I don’t think he’s a future Gunner.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:52 am
I thought Song played his best game of the season. He can develop into a class player. I might be the minority, but Denilson continues to be a frustrating player. Nasri was absent at times, but deserves some credit for the perfect delivery on the RvP goal.
All said, I have given up on Denilson.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:37 pm
The thing with Denilson is that he rarely provides any spark and penetration from midfield. I think he’s capable of it, but we don’t see it often enough.
Is he more of an attacking player or a defensive player? I’m not sure. But he needs to be more incisive if he’s the former, and his position needs to improve hugely if he’s the latter.
Having said all that, as PV4 said the other day, the lad is at least as talented as Flamini, so if he works hard there is no reason why he can’t become as good.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:37 pm
Being that we already seem to be sharing factors regarding Up For Grabs Now » BREAKING: Fabregas Injury Update: 1 to 3 weeks,The criminal defense attorney is responsible for gathering evidences regarding the client. Substantive criminal law focuses on the crime and its punishment.