Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Abou Diaby will miss Saturday’s trip to Stoke City along with William Gallas and Andrey Arshavin.
“Gallas (calf), Diaby (knee) and Arshavin (hamstring) are all out but Eduardo joins in training tomorrow [Friday] and we will decide after training”
Diaby’s absence will be felt not only by Arsenal but by thousands of recent fantasy investors in the midfielder. Diaby had been in decent form of late and had taken his tally to six goals and three assists for the season with his winner against Liverpool in gameweek 26. Heavy investment for Arsenal’s double fixture in gameweek 22 had seen a price rise to 5.8 in the Fantasy Premier League game, leading to over 8% ownership. Those managers will now be disappointed in a gameweek which already finds us scratching around to replace absent players from Villa, United, West Ham and Hull.
While we are thankful for the early tip-off from Wenger, there’s no confirmation of a return date for Diaby. Earlier this week Wenger referred to Diaby as “coming back” to boost the Gunner’s squad. We can only presume that Diaby will be near contention for gameweek 29’s fixture with Burnley.
Wenger also confirmed that Eduardo will be back in the squad for the Britannia visit. That’s unlikely to trouble many fantasy managers. Bendtner owners should be assured of a start again for the striker with Wenger need his height against Stoke’s set-piece threat.