Arsenal set up field hospital on Emirates pitch

by CARL ELDRIDGE Arsenal have furiously denied that the Emirates treatment room is to be the new set for a new series of BBC’s hospital drama Casualty. An Arsenal insider told us: “No-one would ever believe there could be so much carnage in one team, so the idea has been dropped.”

 

On to the papers and first we had Cesc Fabregas’s dad confirming his son would play in the Champions League game against barca, now we have Andrey Arshavin’s mum giving us the lowdown on teh Russian’s injury. Can’t they afford an extra press officer or two over at the Arsenal to convey this news to us?

This morning’s Mirror says Arshavin has deepened our injury crisis after it was claimed he could be out for the season. While Fabregas’s worst fears were confirmed as X-rays revealed he has fractured his right leg and was ruled out for the rest of the campaign, it’s ;eft to Arshavin’s mother Tatyana to tell how he has torn a calf muscle.

She said: “His injury is more serious than we all feared. I think he is out until the end of the season. The medic discovered that his calf muscle was torn. He is unlikely to be playing again soon – and that is very sad. His aim was to play in the Champions League final. And his dream of playing against Barcelona at the Nou Camp is going to remain just a dream now.” Cheers, ma.

The paper adds that AW has already ordered an internal enquiry to see why there have been so many injury problems this season, as he rued the club’s bad luck ahead of the final run-in. He said: “We are like an army who have come back from a big battle. We have some bruises but we need to recover and then go to the next battle. Who will be available for the next one? I have to wait 24 hours.

“William had a recurrence of his calf strain. That is at least three weeks. The next one is Arshavin – calf strain, three weeks. Gael Clichy is struggling with a back problem, he might need a breather too. Denilson has a groin problem. He is a ‘possible’ to play at the weekend.”

In the Mail Theo Walcott reckons you have to hold your hands up and take what you can from the kind of show Barcelona put on in the opening 45 minutes of the quarter final tie which ended 2-2.

The Sun speculates that Cesc may have broken his leg before he went on the pitch to face Barcelona. They quote a source as saying:

“The injury is in exactly the same place as the injury he suffered at St Andrew’s. That’s not necessarily proof. But Cesc didn’t feel 100 per cent going on to the pitch but he didn’t know himself. Nobody knew really. The only other possible explanation is it was weakened at Birmingham – then broke with the impact on the legs of Puyol.”

Looking ahead to tomorrow’s home game in the Premier League against Wolves and the Telegraph, rather worryingly, reminds us that Mick McCarthy’s team have gone four Premier League games without defeat, with two wins and two draws, and on their last two visits to London they left with victories, at Tottenham and, more recently, at West Ham.

 {jcomments on}