I must admit I had last night’s game down as a City win or maybe a draw. But Chelsea pulled it off late in the game with a penalty strike.
Mata had a good game for Chelsea and a dithering Clichy got himself sent off. But the key factor was the extent to which Chelsea worked to keep David Silva quiet.
So City are not invincible. What can Arsenal get out of them in Manchester next Sunday? The last trip to Manchester of course was the chaotic rout at Old Trafford. But Arsenal are a changed team since then and City are no longer unbeaten. That doesn’t mean we can’t lose, but we can go there without fear. More on this later in the week.
The transfer speculation was already at a high pitch before this week. News that Andre Santos needs surgery and a three month lay-off to correct the damage done at the pointless Olympiacos game has now pushed it even higher. Do Arsenal need to go out and buy/loan another full-back?
The current situation is far from a crisis. Djourou and Koscielny can play on the right, Vermaelen and Miquel on the left. But it isn’t ideal and another defensive injury would unsettle the balanced set-up that has helped put us back into the right bit of the league race. On the right, Sagna will clearly be out for at least another month. So how far off fitness are Jenkinson and Gibbs?
The injury news for both has not been updated recently. The Arsenal website still talks about both needing three weeks recovery in reports dated November. You would think that Jenkinson’s recovery from back injury was difficult to predict.
This leaves an awkward situation where both are scheduled to recover bang in the one month transfer window. I don’t imagine Arsene Wenger is panicking about this, but I’m sure he has his scouting team thinking about options. I wouldn’t think they’ll be considering a big ticket star player. If Arsenal go into the market it will more likely be an older player who isn’t getting the games they want any more, or someone who can’t quite get past an experienced team-mate to secure a regular place.
Arsene Wenger isn’t a big fan of the January sales. He had to be poked and prodded into the Arshavin deal. If he is thinking of splashing the cash this winter it is more likely to be on another striking option. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone arrive as a short-term solution.
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