Arsenal
PeakFootball.com can exclusively reveal that Cesc Fabregas was flown home from Arsenal’s Austrian training camp last night with a knee injury. Whilst the extent of the problem remains unclear, Arsenal were concerned enough to send Cesc packing for scans in London this morning. It is expected that Arsene Wenger will reveal the nature of the problem after tonight’s friendly with FC Salzburg.
Still only 20, Fabregas has managed to steer clear of major injuries so far in his short career. Arsenal fans will be hoping that this is just a scare in what has been a troublesome pre-season period.
UPDATE: Scans for Fabregas brought positive news, and he should return to training within a week.
West Ham are either very brave or very stupid. After the disastrous blow of losing Julien Fabuert, the Hammers moved to replace him with Sweden’s international captain, Freddie Ljungberg. The problem? Ljungberg is arguably one of the most injury-prone players in the Premier League.
Internal bleeding in his knee, bruised ribs, back problems, foot injuries, and various hip problems (including one caused by a belatedly infected tattoo); all of these have become familiar to Ljungberg in the last few years. West Ham have replaced a crock with an injury timebomb.
There’s no doubt that on his day, Ljungberg is an excellent player. But investing £3m and astronomical wages (the English press reported £60k p/week, whilst the Swedish went for a ludicrous £103k) in a player who seems to have missed at least ten league games in every season of his career is a very significant gamble indeed.
What do you reckon: crock or gold?
In the first full weekend of pre-season, two top Premiership sides suffered significant injury scares.
In Arsenal’s 2-0 victory over north London rivals Barnet, Jason Puncheon’s late tackle on Denilson led to the 19-year-old being stretched off with what appeared to be a serious knee injury. However, scans revealed that Denilson should be able to return to training in “a few days”.
Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Mexican outfit Club America was notable for the absence of not just Ashley Cole but also Wayne Bridge, who will miss up to three months with a fractured pelvis. It’s a good job Chelsea moved to sign Tal Ben Haim as back-up - in Cole and Bridge they have two players about as likely to get injured as a man running over a black cat which is standing under a ladder.
There was better news for fans of West Ham, who witnessed the return of Dean Ashton after twelve months out with a broken ankle. The powerful forward played 45 minutes of the friendly victory over Dagenham & Redbridge, and admitted after the game that he had doubted whether this moment would ever come:
“There were times when I thought I might not get back, so I’m really going to enjoy this season. It was an absolute joy to be out there playing, it has been a long, tough year and I’m glad to be back.”
He’s not alone in his fears - a broken ankle can be an absolutely devastating injury. Still, the return of Abou Diaby from this horrific blow should give Ashton hope as he takes his latest step on the comeback trail. Next stop, England?
