Cech Mate: Arsenal keeper’s injury couldn’t have come at a worse time
Mar 4, 2016 at 5:17 PM
Before the Champions League game against Barcelona, the world was a happy place for Arsene Wenger, his team and it’s fans. Less than a fortnight after that game and you feel that the proceedings have taken place in a parallel universe. The players who put in a fight against Barcelona looked toothless against a rookie Manchester United team and just when you felt that a win could yet turn things around, they went ahead and lost to Swansea at home. To rub salt in their wounds, possibly the only leader in the team has suffered an injury, ruling him out upto 4 weeks.
Sky Sports reported that the man between the sticks at the Emirates, Petr Cech, pulled his hamstring while running up for a corner during the dying minutes of the game. In a title scramble like the ongoing one, every team needs that calming influence to steady the ship and make sure that the performance isn’t affected by nerves. Even if you were to talk about Cech as a player, barring a few errors early on, he has been on top of his game and has produced some magnificent saves. His replacement David Ospina isn’t as dependable and Arsene Wenger would know that. All is not lost for Arsenal, though. Certainly, these defeats must have dented confidence, but if this season’s unpredictability is anything to go by, Wenger and his men should know that if they can produce a few results on the bounce they will be right back in the mix. This is exactly why I say that the injury couldn’t have come at a worse time because Arsenal face Tottenham in their next game. Spurs lost their last London derby against West Ham but they go into this one firmly as favourites simply on the basis of form. Wenger can only hope that Cech’s absence doesn’t affect the morale of the team and that Ospina can be a good make-shift for the upcoming four weeks. The annual Arsenal twitter meltdown is already underway and if Wenger can’t arrest this current slide, the anger might spill further onto the Emirates.