Our Monday regular is rolled out once again, as we scour the Premier League treatment rooms to assess the players who picked up injuries over the weekend action.
Arsenal
The Gunners’ problems in defence continued at the weekend after Kieran Gibbs was withdrawn through injury in the 2-0 win at Sunderland. Mikel Arteta also picked up a problem against the Black Cats, as Arsene Wenger revealed:
“I think Kieran Gibbs has a hip problem. He wanted to go on but he couldn’t. Mikel Arteta got a kick on his thigh but I don’t think it’s bad.”
Crystal Palace
The Eagles’ stopper Julian Speroni was forced to leave the field after sustaining a head knock in a collision with West Brom’s Craig Dawson on Saturday. After the match, Neil Warnock was far from happy with the challenge:
“It’s almost an assault, how one of the four officials can’t be in a position to see that. Dawson had smashed him in the face and I am lost for words. He’s had a two- or three-yard run up and smashed him in the face. No wonder Julian is a bit groggy. He wanted to carry on.”
Leicester
The Foxes back-up keeper Ben Hamer was absent from the trip to Swansea after dislocating a finger in training on Friday, with Nigel Pearson confirming he’ll be out for “three-to-four weeks”.
Man United
Radamel Falcao and Phil Jones missed yesterday’s home clash with Chelsea. The Colombian isn’t expected to be out for long, though Louis van Gaal was a little more cautious on Jones’ prospects:
“Falcao took a kick in training on Thursday and couldn’t play because of that. We’ll have to wait and see, but I don’t think the injury is too bad, today’s match came too soon for him. Jones has shin splints, so we’ll have to wait and see because it’s not too easy to recover from.”
Ashley Young also missed out after sustaining a knock in training.
Stoke
Charlie Adam was forced off just eight minutes into the second-half of the weekend loss at Southampton with a calf problem.
Sunderland
Gus Poyet is sweating over the fitness of Steven Fletcher after the forward was forced off with a knock against Arsenal, the club’s official match report has confirmed.
Swansea
Gylfi Sigurdsson was subbed off before the hour mark of the weekend win over Leicester with a groin problem:
“I felt my groin before the game, so that’s why I was coming off. We showed character to bounce back from the loss at Stoke.”
After the match, however, Garry Monk confirmed the midfielder’s withdrawal was purely precautionary:
“There’s just a little bit of tightness but he’s fine – there’s no problem there. Obviously with the games coming up we felt instead of risking it going on any longer we take him off and let him have the rest.”
West Ham
Sam Allardyce is sweating over the fitness of Diafra Sakho after the striker was forced off towards the end of Saturday’s 2-1 home win over champions City. Post-match, the Hammers boss went on to say:
“My biggest problem is that my leading goalscorer came off towards the end today with a shoulder problem. I sincerely hope that [the] damage is not severe and he can recover very quickly. Anyone who’s scored six in six – you can ill-afford to lose him. If we lose him it’s going to be a big blow.”
Subsequent reports suggest the striker has not suffered a break but is set to see a specialist over the next 48 hours to ascertain the extent of the damage.
