Latest threat to Arsenal’s success

By Zain Alvi | 6th March 2010

Latest threat to Arsenal's success | read this item

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While Arsenal managed to defeat Burnley at home to maintain a serious title challenge, an old foe returned to overshadow their performance in the first half itself. Skipper Cesc Fabregas, who had opened the scoring, was replaced by Abou Diaby in the 39th minute of the game following the recurrence of a persistent hamstring problem.

Not only has the injury put question marks over Arsenal’s ability to overcome FC Porto in this Tuesday’s Champions League round of sixteen second leg, but it has also jeopardized the remainder of the Gunners’ Premier League campaign. Without the services of Cesc, the supposedly easier schedule that Arsenal enjoyed over their title rivals is now poised to become a lot tougher.

Arsene Wenger is already coping without the services of star striker Robin van Persie and this is the second time in a span of a week that one of his midfielders has gone down with an injury.

Although Aaron Ramsey’s season-ending injury last weekend was a much bigger talking point, Cesc’s hamstring problems (even if short-term) will certainly hurt the team’s play-making abilities a lot more due to his instrumental role at the heart of the Gunners midfield. Who will now step in to become the anchor of Arsenal’s midfield in the Spaniard’s absence? Perhaps Diaby’s job became a lot tougher than merely focusing on becoming a consistent performer.

Once again, Arsene Wenger’s refusal to sign back-ups will be scrutinized by the media, but as a Gooner myself, I stand by my previous viewpoint that so close to the business end of the season, no one at the club should worry about reacting to past decisions that cannot be overturned.

At this point, with only a few games of immense value left to decide the outcome of the season, it is all about making the best use of the resources that are available.

Olaniran Emmanuel says:

March 10, 2010 at 8:28 am

I dont know of any other Arsenal fan out there, but 4me as a GUNNER, i believ and still believ, again and again, that ARSENAL FC are winning the BPL this season, come what may. We shall, insha Allah, by His Grace, the ALMIGHTY prove doubters wrong. WATCHOUT, May is at the corner. Till then. I cross my heart. Emmanuel Olaniran, Lagos, Nigeria

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Eddie Yak says:

March 7, 2010 at 12:07 am

I continued to retain my suggestion that Arsenal will not win the BPL this season BECAUSE Mr. Wenger refused to add able substitutes to the regular first team. I maintain he is wrong not to add quality players during transfer windows. This decision will come back to haunt him definitely. Now his ONLY chance of winning is for Chelsea and Manchester United to fumble and if they do then it is just LUCK for Arsenal not superiority of a team. And if some team decide to hurt Cesc Fabregas then Arsenal’s chances will go up in smoke. I mentioned multiple times Arsenal as a team will win anything available but they do not have a team big enough to cover injuries BUT Mr. Wenger being the genius he is refused to accept this fact, he think his juniors can do the job. If we have Robin Van Persie playing last night the score would have been 6-1 to 8-1. Remember at this stage of the competition the number of goals scored is absolutely vital to winning the BPL.

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BrianTheGooner says:

March 6, 2010 at 5:06 pm

If the media want to scrutinize Wenger for not buying players then that’s up to them. Would this be the same journalists who predicted -
1. Arsenal would not finish in top 4 ?
2. Liverpool would push for title ?
3. Arsenal were finished in November ?
I think I speak for many die-hard Arsenal fans that say we don’t give a flying f**k what some knob in the media says.If I had a quid for every pratt I have read or heard,saying that we need a defensive midfielder and a striker, I would be writing this reply from the Bahamas !!
There is every chance that we could win the Premier League this season and it will have been achieved by the efforts of many players that have developed at Arsenal.This will be a giant kick in the bo**ocks for fat over-rated twats like David Platt , who for some reason enjoys slagging Arsenal off at every opportunity he gets , forgetting that the only decent success he ever had as a player was with us !!…I can hear him now saying ” they are not going to compete for the title with the likes of Song and Diaby”….well David..take a look at the table….it appears we are !!

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The Fan says:

March 6, 2010 at 4:23 pm

We definetly have back ups. They are either on the pitch already or injured. Every position on the field has atleast one back up and a midfield of diaby song nasri rosicky and walcott is one of the best midfields we could ever have. Of course with fabregas in there it would be better but that line up is still better than some that have had him there

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