Johan Djourou and Abou Diaby were both left with injuries following Arsenal Reserves’s 2-0 win over West Ham United yesterday evening.
Djourou has become a regular fixture in the Reserves team, after returning from injury sustained on loan with Birmingham City and was named in the starting line up. However in the warm up he pulled a muscle, and after assessment from Youth team physios David Wales and John Cooke it was decided with just minutes before kick off he would not be involved.
Abu Ogogo replaced Johan, and it meant boss Neil Banfield had to switch the side around, having previously wanted to experiment with skipper Havard Nordtveit at right back. But Abou Diaby warmed up correctly and took his place in central midfield alongside Jay Emmanuel-Thomas in front of a watching Arsene Wenger.
However after a promising start, and some nice touches he clipped West Ham United captain Jack Collision with 5 minutes left before half time, and after making his discomfort known to Neil Banfield, Gilles Sunu replaced him on 42 minutes.
It later emerged Abou had sustained a badly bruised hip, and left Underhill after brief treatment and drove home. He will report to first team training tomorrow morning where Gary Lewin will asses the injury, which is believed just to be bruising.
Last week Justin Hoyte also got injured just before half time and has been missing for the past week, and could miss the rest of the season. But Denilson played nearly an hour and made his first team return against Reading on Saturday.
Article By – J.Sanderson
I am pretty sure that if it is just brusing Abu Diaby will be fit for the weekend
Our ‘kids’ got to beef up really; it’s pathetic they seem to always prone to niggling injuries and it does confidence no good at all knowing you simply couldn’t have a go at the ball or what have you …
there must be something in the water….
Diaby must be the unluckiest player going – he’s just back from a 3 game ban, finally gets a chance to play in the centre and he can’t even make it to half-time! Hope he gets over this tendency towards minor knocks and finally shows us what he can do.
highlights!!!!!
Are there any match highlights on YouTube?
Highlights are only avaliable via ArsenalTV, any of them posted on YouTube or other sites, are illegal as they are a breach of copyright.
Hey Sanderson – you mentioned how Djourou has been a fixture in the reserves lately. Just wondering if he’s been playing at centre back and how he’s performances have been lately? Do you see him here in the near and distant future?
Cheers