Arsenal: Aaron Ramsey Injury Indicative Of Unique Situation
Arsenal’s Welsh wizard Aaron Ramsey has been out since week one, yet the very fact that we are not overly concerned or impatient is a great indication.
Arsenal’s depth is all anyone is talking about. That team that they sent out against Nottingham Forest was chocked with quality, yet all of them are on the reserves, whether you agree with their position or not (Xhaka!).
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As such, I believe this club is in a rare place where no single injury could derail the season. Consider any major player on the side and imagine what would happen if he got hurt.
Alexis? No problem. We have Lucas, Iwobi, Walcott, Giroud.
Ozil? Bothersome, but we still have Alexis, Iwobi, Cazorla. Plus, we are dealing with a quiet Ozil already. Clearly he is not the be-all, end-all of this side.
Giroud? Well, we’re doing pretty well aren’t we?
Cech? Ospina is a mammoth in goal. Don’t you ever forget that.
It’s actually a very unique and comfortable feeling and one that can be felt when we consider the injury to Aaron Ramsey and how it keeps managing to worsen.
Ramsey is another one of those guys whose previous injuries we have keenly felt. In 2013/14, we waited eagerly for his return and the same was true in 2014/15. This year, however, while he is missed, he is not missed to the point where we don’t see any alternatives.
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In fact, you could say that even with Ramsey back, he wouldn’t be in the starting XI. It would be a close race between him and Theo Walcott wide right. Both are favorites of Wenger and, to the best of my knowledge, I can’t think of a time when both were healthy and competing for the same position. So we don’t exactly know who would win out.
However, there is one major detractor. I have this sneaking suspicion that Ramsey is the inherited partner of Granit Xhaka – and what a partnership that would be. Both can fire from distance, both have fantastic work rates and since Xhaka loves to sit back, Ramsey can bombard forward.
If it is all about partnerships, like Wenger says, then I am not completely ruling out the possibility that Xhaka is not starting because his partner is not back healthy yet. This is mere speculation, though, so we can’t put too much into it.
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Whatever the case, while Ramsey’s absence is surely felt, it is not detrimental, and that is a fantastic indication of how far this club has come in the past couple years. Especially when expanding on what I said earlier, that no single injury can ruin this season on its own. What a unique situation for Arsenal to be in.