Hello everyone.
Mikel Arteta holds his pre-match press conference at 1pm this afternoon and will no doubt face questions about the aftermath of the Palace game and the two major injuries Arsenal have suffered this week. Following the announcement of Kieran Tierney’s end of the season, the club issued an update on Thomas Partey yesterday, which was a little more vague on whether we would see him again by May 22.
Read:
Our number 5 was substituted off in Monday night’s game against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park after injuring her right thigh. Thomas has since had further tests, and a subsequent scan showed muscle damage to his right thigh.
We will continue to assess Thomas over the coming weeks, during which time he will also receive further specialist advice. Everyone will be working hard to get Thomas back on the pitch as soon as possible.
On the one hand, I think it’s good that he wasn’t categorically ruled out entirely, but I find the lack of a timeframe a bit worrying. Maybe they just don’t know or can’t tell at this point. As I mentioned yesterday, a similar hamstring injury kept him out for four games in his debut season, then he came back (perhaps too quickly) and then missed ten more games. With only nine players, it must be difficult when it comes to his participation.
The part of me that fears the worst thinks maybe I already have a good idea, but for moral reasons they don’t want to announce two season finales in one week. It might be the glass half empty, or completely empty, but it’s hard to keep your brain from it – especially since Partey has been so important since the beginning of the year (although, like almost everyone else, it underperformed Monday).
And so it is this season with this Arsenal team. It’s doing things to my head that I need to counteract. For example, if everything goes well and we win games, I see a bright and bright future with sunshine and green fields and flowers and birdsong and all the good things to come as this group of young players grow and develop together. If we don’t win when something like Crystal Palace happens, it’s so easy to fall down a rabbit hole of dismay where the rabbits living in this dark, dank maze are nasty little bastards out to get ours to sabotage the entire season. They mock us with their gnarled teeth in scenes like the movie Watership Down, which despite its horror was aimed at children.
The logical, sane part of me knows it’s never that good or never that bad, and I can recalibrate with hindsight, but it’s that initial emotional response that I relate to. I think that’s partly because there’s a lot at stake right now and there’s an opportunity ahead that’s still in our hands. It’s just that our hands are coated in some kind of sticky, gooey stuff and it’s going to be a lot harder to hold on to.
However, I don’t care about the team’s emotional reaction to the Selhurst Park result and the injuries. Of course they will miss the two players mentioned above, but I don’t know if the footballers themselves feel the same way about injuries and absences as the fans do. They know they still have work to do, some will see it as an opportunity and I’m sure Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff will ensure that the Palace game is put in a little box and they are 100% committed to it focus. to Brighton tomorrow.
He never let them get carried away with a win this season and always reminded them at his pre- and post-game press conferences that we really were in one area at a time. Congratulations, you’ve won, great thing, enjoy the moment but don’t get carried away. That’s how it has to be with this recent defeat. It wasn’t enough, let’s do better, but don’t dwell on the negativity.
We’ve been under pressure for weeks. In fact we’ve been dealing with pressure all season because you can’t start a season like us without him still there so I don’t think he’s going to be a dominant factor now. Let’s see what he has to say when he hits the press later.
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A quick word of congratulations to my Arsenal Vision podcast friends who hit their £50 fundraising goal for the Arsenal Foundation yesterday. Incredible work, incredible generosity and support from Arsenal’s online community who are the very best. Amazing stuff in every way.
You can still donate and if you do so before Monday you will be entered into a draw to win a seat in a VIP box for the final game of the season against Everton. Even if you watched the game with the boys and I, it’s still something to watch. You can donate here: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/avpgives
Later we will have our Premier League preview podcast on Patreon and remember this month Arseblog donates every penny from Patreon to Unicef to help children around the world affected by conflict and war. So by signing up, you get instant access to all content while helping a really great cause – patreon.com/arseblog
This podcast is available to you this afternoon. This morning there’s a brand new Arsecast in chat with Charles Watts from KT, Partey, Nuno, Sambi, Lacazette and more. All the links you need to listen/subscribe are below. Enjoy the show and we will have all presser updates on Arseblog News later.
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