Injuries, Shares & Ade With A Tad Of Hull Thrown In

International week always seems to have a negative impact on Arsenal and this time is no different. Fabianksi was due to start on Saturday but was taken ill and Northern Ireland will be eternally grateful for that as Artur Boruc played, gifting them their winner in a 3 – 2 win. The keeper is apparently well enough to play against San Marino this week though. More worryingly is the news that Robin van Persie may miss this weekend’s clash with Manchester City due to a groin or hamstring injury depending upon which source you believe.

The Dutchman is receiving treatment but has been dropped from the international squad. The news is tempered by the fact that Adebayor came through his match apparently unharmed and with a goal to boot although he might have doubled that tally had he not missed a penalty. Perhaps it is just as well he was not in Rome!

Off the pitch news really dominated yesterday. Hull finally got their ‘Gobgate Dossier’ to the FA yesterday. A weighty tome it must be as well because you will recall that a number of players saw the incident. That may raise a few eyebrows since according to the club, the only contributors to their case were Phil Brown, Brian Horton and Sean Rush, their fitness coach. So why has it taken them so long to get this document to the FA, especially since we are told that it was delayed due to international call-ups. Congratulations to Rush then for he must work with a national team as neither of the other two do.

The sale of shares by Danny Fiszman to Stan Kroenke is being seen as a precursor to a full-blown takeover. It shifts the dynamic of power in the boardroom although publically at least, the presentation is more ‘Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss’. Whether reducing his shareholding to 16.1% will have that effect remains to be seen as thankfully all parties appear to be determined that the club should continue along the route of a self-financing business model. Fiszman himself has denied that he is ‘losing interest’ in Arsenal. Well, he will be gaining a bit of that now he has £42.5m in the bank and he certainly won’t be losing out on any dividend payments either.

Not that the press care for it merely gives the tabloids the chance to dust off their Cold War rhetoric from half a century ago and dress it up as original thought. Whether it has any impact on whatever plans Alisher Usmanov has for his investment remains to be seen. The shares owned by Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith are reportedly out there to be bought. If either Kroenke or Usmanov buys the entire holding, it will be the trigger for a takeover bid, almost certainly hostile in the latter’s case. Ivan Gazidis admits that he has no idea what her intentions are as far as that is concerned so the truth will lie between the two extremes. Suggestions in this morning’s papers that she is unhappy with the share sale to Kroenke are again unsubstantiated so perhaps it is best to wait and see rather than jumping to conclusions.

Elsewhere Emmanuel Adebayor says he happy, RvP is a ‘great player’ and wins today’s prize for stating the bleedin’ obvious when asked what Arsenal have missed this season in his interview on FIFA.com:

Most of our players have been injured. We’ve missed Eduardo for several months, Tomas Rosicky for about a year, Theo Walcott for three or four months, Cesc Fabregas for almost six months and I’ve also been injured for two or three weeks.

The timescales mentioned indicate how old the interview is since he has now been out for months rather than weeks. His return could be timely since Denmark seem intent on knacking Nicklas Bendtner, the nation’s self-interest being put before the players well-being. If Blatter and Platini want any indications why clubs hate international football, there it is for them served on a plate.

’til Tomorrow.

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