The weekend’s nine fixtures have heralded in a number of new injuries, with yet another hamstring setback for Chelsea’s main striker proving the headline-grabber.
Arsenal
Laurent Koscielny and Aaron Ramsey were both forced off during the Gunners’ win over Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime. After the match, Arsene Wenger revealed he was optimistic on the pair’s fitness:
”Koscielny has a little tightness in his thigh..He had a muscular problem, but a small one..and Ramsey’s is an ankle problem, but it’s not bad.”
Wojciech Szczesny missed out yesterday due to a rib problem.
Aston Villa
Tim Sherwood is pessimistic over the prospects of Ashley Westwood and Scott Sinclair making Villa’s home clash with QPR on Tuesday after the duo missed yesterday’s trip to United with hamstring injuries. Sherwood also rolled out an update on Alan Hutton’s fitness after the defender was forced off at Old Trafford:
”They’re both injured. I wouldn’t have thought they’ll be back for Tuesday. It’s disappointing. The injuries are crippling. But we’ve just got to get on with it. We lost Alan to injury today. As quick as we are getting them back, we are losing them. Alan wanted to stay on the pitch desperately. He was desperate to stay on and do well for the club but unfortunately he couldn’t. His ankle was too sore. It’s going to be a struggle for him. I’ve never known injuries like it. It’s unbelievable.”
The Villains’ boss is a little more optimistic on Aly Cissokho and Kieran Richardson’s prospects of being available to face the R’s:
“I hope so but I’m not holding my breath.”
Chelsea
Diego Costa lasted just 11 minutes as a second-half substitute before his hamstring issues forced him off against Stoke. Discussing the likely period of absence, Jose Mourinho reckons the Spain international is set to miss the Gameweek 33 showdown with United:
“It’s too early. He has to go home, he has to wait 48 hours. He has to do all the scans again. He will be out for sure a couple of weeks, but we have seven weeks until the end of the season. Seven weeks and eight matches. For sure, in half of it he has to be with us.”
Mourinho also conceded that the decision to throw Costa on at the break with the match all-square was a risky tactic but refused to blame the club’s medical department as a result of his star forward’s setback:
“I don’t say a gamble because we did every test, we did every scan. The player trained two days 100 per cent with the team, the medical department was convinced that he was ready. The player was convinced he was ready, not for 90 minutes, but he was ready to play and to help the team. Sometimes as a manager I have to risk things. Medical departments have to do the same, if they want to be top medical departments like our department is. The safe medical department cannot work with me. People with fear, afraid to risk, cannot work with me. My medical department is fantastic, they do fantastically well for us. Today between them and the player and myself, things didn’t happen the best way, but I’m happy with that, because it’s football.”
Everton
Darron Gibson is set for a period on the sidelines after sustaining a foot injury in training on Friday morning, Roberto Martinez has confirmed:
“We don’t know yet how long Darron will be out because, obviously, the specialist needs to give us an answer as to how we are going to treat the injury. Yesterday, in a very innocuous action just in the box, he rolled his ankle and didn’t realise anything was wrong. Then, this morning, it was swollen and when we checked it he has a fracture in his metatarsal which is really devastating and our win today is for him. It’s such a tough period, we need to support him and make sure we get him back as quick as we can.”
Hull
Curtis Davis was unavailable for the Tigers’ trip to Swansea due to a thigh problem. Andrew Robertson missed out through injury, whilst Gaston Ramirez lasted less than 30 minutes before being forced off due to injury, according to match reports. The on-loan Uruguayan is unavailable for next weekend regardless as he cannot play against parent club Southampton.
Liverpool
Mario Balotelli missed the trip to Arsenal after sustaining a knee knock in training, Brendan Rodgers has revealed:
”He trained yesterday afternoon with the team and took a slight knock to his knee. He deemed it that he was not able to travel with the team. He felt it was too sore to travel. The medical staff have looked at it. It was something that he himself didn’t feel comfortable with to travel.”
QPR
Eduardo Vargas was forced off through injury just 30 minutes into yesterday’s win at West Brom. Club medics are waiting for swelling to subside before sending the player for scans.
Sunderland
Jack Rodwell missed today’s derby win over Newcastle due to a hamstring injury.
Swansea
Kyle Naughton was forced off with an ankle problem during the Swans’ weekend win over Hull. Naughton was involved in a challenge with David Meyler which resulted in the latter’s dismissal but after the match, Garry Monk refused to blame the Tigers midfielder:
“He’s gone to hospital for an x-ray. His ankle swelled up after coming off. I think it was a 50-50 ball. It was a bad challenge, but I don’t think there was any malice from the player.”
Tottenham
Jan Vertonghen was unavailable for today’s trip to Burnley due to illness, the club has confirmed. Kyle Walker lasted just two minutes of the second-half before limping off with an ankle problem sustained prior to the break. The right-back left the stadium in crutches but Mauricio Pochettino remains optimistic on his prospects:
”We expect and we hope that it’s not a big issue.”
