Yeah it's never a good idea to tinker with more than one position if you're fixing one position. Just play Holding and hope for the best. Like invis said, he played well in two FA Cup finals, it's not like he's just dropped in from League One.

Saliba is rumoured to be unavailable for the weekend, which isn't all that surprising. Hopefully is good shape for the trip to the Etihad.

Didn't Arteta say something like I hope he will be available for us this season? Means that an immediate recovery is all but ruled out?

just checked out the Leeds pre match conference and I think he indicates this. Questions were quite loaded though.

More recently, I think the rumour is that he's short for Anfield but there is hope beyond that. There is a part of me that wonders if we should only consider him we lose a game again.

Yeah the reporter asked if he’ll play again this season and Arteta just responded he’s very hopeful.

I'm sure it'd be tempting to pump him full of painkillers and send him out, but spines really don't work like that.

a month later

Would have liked to have had Zinchenko in the team for Brighton I must say.

Out for the rest of the season? You mean 3 games!

Saliba we knew was out for a while and if we were ever going to play Tierney it would be now whilst his stock at its highest it’s been and Zinny’s the lowest it’s been all season.

I think the late season performances of Partey and Zinchenko make a lot of sense within the context of them being physically worn down.

    Wasn't expecting Willy back, but if you're not worried by this "back injury" by now (I have been since day one), it's time to get worried. Seems like it's a pretty fucked up issue.

    • goon replied to this.

      Burnwinter

      The rumours were that he’d potentially need surgery when it first happened so yeah, it always sounded like a bad one. Good news is that he doesn’t need surgery.

      May be that given we’ve only got 2 weeks to go they’ve decided to write off the season rather than risk him for the sake of one game. Hopefully he’s ready for pre-season.

          goon Good news is that he doesn’t need surgery.

          Not sure that's such great news, as rehabilitating a back injury certainly doesn't leave you invulnerable to a recurrence. This one's a bit of a bugger any which way really.

            5 days later

            Ornstein says Martinelli out for the season with some ankle ligament damage (he playing down concern). It was the left leg right? Same one where he underwent surgery to repair cartilage in the knee in 2020. Real bummer and hope the kid can properly enjoy his holidays.

            Zinchenko is unreliable and whilst Tierney isn't suited to the role, he's a good fullback. Selling him to Newcastle would be incredibly dumb.

            Yeah. I think if we get an inverted right full back as well, which we seem to be potentially looking for.. He could do incredibly well playing the left sided Ben White role, would really suit him, great engine. Could surprise some people next year if he stays.

            My thinking re: Tierney is that we should let him leave if he'll only play as much as this season. Just think it's a shame for a decent player to go to waste.

            The "Zinchenko role" is not for Tierney though, heck it's only for Zinchenko on a good day.