Premier League - Walcott set for spell on sidelines
Eurosport - Wed, 08 Sep 09:07:00 2010
Arsenal winger Theo Walcott's ankle injury sustained during England's 3-1 win over Switzerland in Basel is not as bad as first feared, but he still faces up to two weeks on the sidelines.
Walcott lasted just 10 minutes of Tuesday night's Euro 2012 qualifier before being stretchered off following the opening goal which he helped create.
After finding Glen Johnson out wide, Walcott continued his run into the Swiss box, only to trip over Steve von Bergen's outstretched leg just before Wayne Rooney tapped home Johnson's cross from close range.
The 21-year-old was taken to hospital for a precautionary X-ray on his ankle, but the scan revealed he had merely sprained rather than broken it.
England manager Fabio Capello said after the match: "It's a little problem, but not a big problem. We will have to wait to see how it is.
"I spoke with Theo and he told me it is not a big problem. I said 'two weeks?'. He said less."
While that news will ultimately be a relief for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who would have feared a longer lay-off, it is a bad time for him to lose Walcott for anything up to four matches.
On top of losing the winger just when he is enjoying a good run of scoring form for the Gunners, striker Robin van Persie has been ruled out for a further six weeks with an ankle injury picked up in the win at Blackburn.
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Comment 8 - 27 of 27
Theo Walcott is likely to be out for “four to six weeks”, according to Arsène Wenger.
Speaking to TV Online on Today, the Arsenal manager confirmed the extent of the ankle injury picked up by the 21-year-old playing for England on Tuesday night.
Some reports say 6 weeks for Theo... "injury worst than expected".. always the same story, FAs hiding the real nature of injuries. It brings back bad memories from last year. Our 2 main threats upfront, Rvp and Theo are now OUT.
Correction #15, RVP, Walcott, Nasri, Rosicky, Denilson, and lately Fabregas are all prone to injuries. All are flair players with little grit. This is not an insult, as it take a combination of players with flair and grit to make a trophy winning team. The Arsenal of old had grit, Wenger in the early days added flair to this and we became the most entertaining team n football. But we were also winning things then. Now we're still very entertaining but winning nothing. We need the Vieras, Palour, Adams and the Keones of old. Balance this with our outstanding flair players and we're back to the Arsenal i know.
Can Wenger not understand after so many years that Van Persie, though potentially one of the best strikers in the world, can not be relied on as our main striker. He's way too injury prone which is very sad cos he's such a talent. Since Henry's departure we've no had a striker that the team can really lean on his reliability as well as being an outstanding talent.
Buy and buy well man!
As long as Cesc and Nasri can stay fit till RVP and Theo get back we'll be ok
Internationals are a waste of time. I'd much rather watch club football, teams actually play together. Hopefully Walcott will be scoring as soon as he returns.
Oh well
Theo passed the ball to Rooney and was fouled by the opposition defender who tackled him just after a great passing display between him and Glenn Johnson. The commentators at the match on Sky pointed this out and replayed it more than once. to show that Theo is a force to be reckoned with, he is quick and makes smart moves. credit where it's due. This young lad has come a long way.
theo walcott got injured wow maybe the swiss player were rugby players in disguise
Eric - you're right, this is a very well mannered forum! Usually somebody starts trash talking everybody else! Personally, I only tend to make comments when its like this. I don't see a point in wading in when everybody else is throwing insults and stupid remarks around.
Super Blue - thanks for wishing our injured players well. Its nice to see that, as a lot of fans will wish broken legs on their opponents' best players!
I think this season is going to be one of the closest ones in recent years. Of course, as an Arsenal fan I would like to think its our year (finally!) but Chelsea and United will be there every step of the way. I think City will have a decent season, but its too early for them to be challenging seriously yet.
"Super blue" , If no one wants to sell a goal keeper, the manager cant do nything. you think Man city wud sell shay given to any of their rivals. Mark was dissalowed to go from fulham, which is fair enuf, coz u cant let your goal keeper go if you dont get a replacement, what Mark huges did was the right thing. AW never go n snatch players from other teams by throwing a lot of money or getting media to do the dirty job (like barca - cesc issue). What AW says is a point , wen no one wants to sell their GK , he cany do nything. And i wasnt making any excuses. I just mentioned we have players who is injury prone, which is no ones fault. AW knows wats he doing thats why he is one of best and thats why the club owners supports him. Our club has always trained young players and help develop skills (cesc), thats how it should be rather than spending money.
Abt Ryan shawcorss, its a game mate, we dont have to do life threatning tackles to win the ball. Eduardo, the poor lad lost his confidence coz of of what happend to him. Cant blame him obviously you will loose confindence. Imagine coz of Ryan's tackle what if ramsey could never play or walk ??? what abt it then ? you need to consider the age mate. all of these players in arsenal are young players. They dont have to go through these life threatning tackles and end up in bed for one long year or rest of their lifes. You dont have to kill someones dream to get the ball!!!!
"super blue" I guess u support chelsea, a club who has always writes off the loss, lol. Imagine if the russian dint take over Chelsea????. I dont even think u wud even support chelsea if that was the case,lol. We dont want to spend massive amount of money on players and then win the cup. Many clubs have done it. There is no big deal in it. Man city is spending like nything now, "super blue" its just matter of time, Man city will take all of chelsea's players mate. In few years time, they will become the champions just coz of MONEY. That doesnt give u respect for the club or a history.
I respect AW, he as done a lot for gunners, he is one of the best managers. He helped us build a new stadium, ours is the only club with few debts compared to others and we have always done well, always finished on top four without spending massive amount of money on players. But now he wants a young team to win it and we will.
No need to reference Eric, but I just think that some people are confusing "footballing brain" with "youthful inexperience". Players do mature and one of the things that develops is more of an awareness of the game going on around you. I know that there are some wonderkids who seem to have this skill from a very early age, but there have been some very useful players who have grown into these types of players. Walcott is still young and developing as a player. I think his early showings this season show that he has improved in his decision making and lets hope that he continues along this line.
ericfish13: I'm sure you're only saying that Walcott doesn't have a footballing brain because Alan Hansen is saying it on Match of the Day. Didn't he also say that "You don't win things with kids"? He was wrong there too.
I agree with Natasha that Walcott has really been a vast improvement in the first few games this season. Perhaps its a response to the disappointment of missing out on the World Cup, or perhaps its just that he's a little older and more experienced. Either way, we'll miss him in the next few games, along with RVP. Still, as much as people believe that Wenger signs weaklings who can't hack it, I think we have plenty of strength in our team (Song, Diaby, Eboue. Also Arshavin is quite strong for his size). If our injuries are for just a few weeks then hopefuly the likes of Chamakh, Vela and Wilshire will be able to fill the gap.
PLAYERS ARE ALL BOUND TO GET INJURED ISN'T IT?........
SHOW ME A FOOTBALLER WHO NEVER GET INJURED AND I WILL TELL YOU HOW LAZY THE FOOTBALLER IS.
SO WHY ARE WE PICKING ON A PLAYER(WALCOTT) AND A TEAM(ARSENAL) HERE?
PLS LEAVE THE YOUNG MAN ALONE
Ah you English lot...
I just cant wait until Johnson screws up in few games, all the abuse hell get. He was never good in the first place, money grabber, no fotballing brain etc etc...
I mean it happened to Rooney, Terry, Beckham, all of the keepers, Lampard, Crouch, Heskey, Cole... you name it...
Here we go again, same ole, same ole, injury prone season as per... its never gonna be any different for The Arsenal until Wenger starts to look at the players he is signing or not signing as the case may be. RVP and Walcott will always to prone to injuries.
We are the only team with lot of injuries!
I think walcott will improve his skils, but injury problems is not good for us gunners!! AVP & walcott out. Nasri not yet back. Fabregas - still moaning about going to barcelona!. We have champions league games and imp premeir league games with chelsea and man u. The tough fixtures will make our players more vulnarable to injuries and less rest. I feel like we will have lot of injuries in 4 weeks time which is not good. And supporters should stop moaning about Almunia coz u cant blame him all the time. if the defence is flop then not even shay given can do better. The defence should be strong enough. We do a lot of counter attack, which makes our left back & right back move in the front all the time and makes the defence weak. Last season against chelsea, we had the ball controll throughout the game, but they did a surprise counter attack n won the game. It seems like arsenal cant defend a counter attack from the opp team. We should sell johan djouro, he may be good but, he hardly played last season & he is more injury prone.
"Walcott has pace and thats pretty much it."
I think that, as stated before he IS joint top scorer right now, we can add finishing to that list at the very least.
Aside from that, living and dying to play for England is all well and good, but in reality, there are plenty of players that would do that...But does blood and thunder passion win matches? Not any more, I don't think.
Yes, I am an Arsenal fan, an Arsenal fan that has clearly seen more of Walcott this season than you have if you claim that he is just pace. He really has made a step up after his summer of disappointment...
Anyway, let's not fight as we will clearly just disagree...Instead let's focus on the positive...
When was the last time there was genuine competition from two such high quality players for the national side?!??! Beckham and Wright-Phillips just doesn't quite do it, does it?!!!
Better times may be ahead for England if we can just get a bit more of that competition going for places all over the pitch.
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