Yes, they have what Mancini described as “the best attack in the world” in Rooney and Van Persie, but the latter’s injury history could scupper the season. He is without a doubt a world class player, but he has only really had one injury free season and it is such a gamble to rely on him to be fit for another full year, never mind the four they have tied him to on his new contract.
Like many other teams, United have been busy in the transfer market, but also have players returning from injury who could potentially be like a new signing to them. A fit again Darren Fletcher, could add a much needed bite to their midfield and allow the more creative players to push on and bang in the goals. Similarly, over at Arsenal, a returning Jack Wilshire will be like a brand new player for them after being out for all of last season. A player of his quality is exactly what they have missed since the sale of Fabregas and even more so now last season’s player with the highest number of assists, Alex Song, has joined Barcelona.
Currently, Arsenal and Aston Villa top the injury list table with 6 first team players injured. Arsenal have 2 potentially back at the end of the month, 3 in October and of course, Wilshire whenever he may appear. More worryingly for them, it is now the second break in the same leg for Bacary Sagna, and they must be concerned how well he will recover this time. Could a recurrence of such a serious injury affect him mentally, particularly when throwing himself into tackles? Like Arsenal, Villa have a long term injury problem, albeit a more serious one, with captain Petrov recovering in remission from Acute Leukaemia. It doesn’t look likely that he will return any time soon, if at all, so Villa do need every man on board to compete this season. The returning Darren Bent will provide a massive boost to them, having missed the latter part of last season, as they struggled in front of goal. They do however, still remain light upfront as there only other experienced striker, Agbonlahor is out until mid-September with a knee ligament injury sustained in pre-season. If he can come back strong and return to the same sort of form under former charge, Martin O’Neill, then Villa should stay well away from the drop this year.
There are too many injured players to assess individually let alone their importance to each team. It is, however, easy to see how important an injury free campaign can be. It can be the difference between winning the league and not, staying up and the drop. Worryingly, with the rising number of fixtures, increasing rigours of the game, and reduced time for the players to rest, there are only going to be more injuries and football fans around the country will be crossing their fingers that it doesn’t happen to their team. Why is it, in this day and age, with all the advances in sport science there is such a dramatic difference in the number of injuries to players between the different clubs?
Discuss…
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