Robin Van Persie had many a Fantasy Manager reaching for the Beta-Blockers to combat heightened anxiety and raised blood pressure as news filtered through that leading Fantasy Premier League (FPL) points scorer Robin Van Persie had suffered a suspected thigh strain.
The news broke in the early hours of Monday morning, indicating that Manchester United were aware of the problem from at least last Sunday and, as most club protocols are for a rest day immediately after a match, we can only assume that the injury occurred during the Aston Villa game. Reassuringly, an observational assessment of his physiological movements during the second half of the encounter offers credible evidence that recovery should be swift.
Having dissected each movement for clues and indicators of injury, it soon becomes clear that throughout the second half Van Persie moves with agility, fluidity and mechanical purity; indeed, he looked sharp, fresh and bristled with intent. The Dutch international can be witnessed performing a full array of high intensity movements around the hip, knee and ankle joints, leaping, tackling, taking corners, free kicks and accelerating and decelerating whilst changing direction. At no point during the half did I witness anything that would concern me. From an observational physiotherapist’s perspective, he moved with fluid freedom, showing no signs of anxiety, reaction or impediment. At no point during the half did RVP exhibit any type of antalgic gait.
It must be noted that an observational assessment doesn’t tell the whole story; a battery of palpations, tests and movements allied to a subjective assessment offers a much fuller picture, but based purely on our observational analysis we have to give RVP a clean bill of health.
If Van Persie incurred an injury, he disguised it well, leaving me to conclude that some soreness or tightness around the thigh muscles presented itself during the post match physio assessments. However, on the available evidence we can only conclude that, unless he has taken a tumble getting on to the team bus, any injury would be minor in nature, giving us a high probability that the Dutchman should be fit, fresh and ready to rattle the Canaries cages at Carrow Road this weekend.
