Cazorla blow for injury-hit Gunners
Print Edition
ARSENAL’S injury crisis in midfield deepened after Santi Cazorla damaged ligaments in his left knee and could be out for up to four months.
“It is possible,” manager Arsene Wenger said yesterday, when asked if Cazorla will be missing until March.
With central midfielders Francis Coquelin, Jack Wilshere, Mikel Arteta, and Tomas Rosicky also injured, and star winger Alexis Sanchez out with a hamstring problem, Cazorla’s setback leaves Arsenal short heading into the hectic spell of games before and during the festive period.
Arsenal is fourth in the English Premier League ahead of a home game against Sunderland today, the first of seven matches in 29 days. The team faces a must-win match at Olympiakos on Wednesday to stand a chance of reaching the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Cazorla played on against Norwich City last Sunday despite taking a heavy knock in the early stages of the second half. Defender Laurent Koscielny and Sanchez were taken off injured during that game, which finished 1-1, but Cazorla wasn’t substituted.
Wenger wouldn’t put a timeframe on Sanchez’s absence, and defended his decision to play the Chile international at Norwich after a long run of games for club and country.
“He was rested in some games and had all the medical signs to say he was OK to play between Dinamo Zagreb (in the Champions League) and Norwich,” Wenger said.
“I had a chat with Sanchez after the injury (and) he is adamant he felt perfect.”
Arsenal has 10 players out, continuing the club’s poor injury record in recent seasons.
Meanwhile, Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce says he has huge respect for Wenger and is keen to end his long-running feud with the Frenchman.
Allardyce, who has not beaten Arsenal since May 2010 and lost his previous eight matches against Wenger, has a well-documented feud with the Frenchman, which was inspired largely by Wenger’s accusation of attempted gamesmanship.
Allardyce said he no longer deployed such tactics as the two sides prepare for their league clash today. “It was about my life in the early years. My life’s not like that now. I’m completely different now,” Allardyce told reporters.
“I had some good fun with Arsene in the early years. I got under his skin. Our meetings have been much more amicable since, on and off the field.
“I’ve always had a huge amount of respect for him. Winding up was just a procedure we used a long time ago but I’m not sure it makes a difference to players.”
Teams like Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers were known to rough teams up with a physical approach during Allardyce’s reign, but the 61-year-old Englishman said those days are gone.
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