Arsene Wenger has been having a tough time of late. With Arsenal battling on four fronts there was talk about this “being their year” and the first trophy to adorn the Emirates Stadium cabinet seemed like it could finally be on it’s way.
A week or two later and Arsenal have been knocked out on three fronts and their charge for the fourth, and perhaps most important, title on offer this season [The Premier League] has taken a major blow. Arsene Wenger has confirmed the loss of Johan Djourou for the remainder of the season with a dislocated shoulder picked up in a collision with Bacary Sagna during the 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford (more on the game as whole in the notes to follow) tonight in the FA Cup.
“[He has a] dislocated shoulder. His season is over”.
With their main rivals Manchester United still fighting on three fronts Arsenal would have hoped to have a fully fit squad to concentrate their efforts on the title alone but the loss of Djourou at this crucial point, on top of Wojciech Szczesny damaging his finger and Cesc Fabregas straining his hamstring once more this last week, is something which cannot be understated.
The Swiss centre-back missed all but 29 minutes of the 2009/10 season and ever since his return in the Autumn of this one he has shored up an Arsenal defence that has already been sorely missing Thomas Vermaelen. His record of 11 clean sheets in the 15 starts made for Arsenal this season (with only 4 goals conceded) speaks for itself.
The shaky combination of Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci will be back on display for the Gunners for the time being and 6% of Fantasy Premier League (FPL) Managers will be ruing the grave loss of the uber-cheap £4.4m defender from their ranks as they ponder potential replacements from fields less dazzling than that which an Arsenal defender can provide.
