A season of injuries is taking its toll.
The situation is worth scrutiny now. All clubs have injuries but none of our players appear to be able to stay fit for an entire season and it is making it impossible to maintain our performances in more than one competition.
Gallas, Arshavin and Fabregas have all been ruled out for the Wolves game, sadly our captain’s season has ended altogether whereas the other two have a chance of returning before the end of the campaign. Anything other than a win at the Grove will finally end our title hopes.
Wenger has a selection headache with many of the players who do make the squad presumably fatigued from the awe inspiring game of football played on Wednesday. The manager appeared to favour reputation and experience over fitness against Barca but against Wolves, he will surely rotate to play with as fresh a first eleven as he can.
In theory this should mean starts for Eduardo, Rosicky, Silvestre and the forgotten Carlos Vela could even come into contention. These are all quality players so it really should not be a concern for Wenger to play them at home to Wolves. If he cannot do that then there is no point them being at the club and his reluctance to start them could partly account for our perpetual injury crisis.
It was an unforgettable night of football on Wednesday but it would be a shame to sacrifice a whole season’s worth of effort with a lacklustre effort tomorrow afternoon. If the top two draw at Old Trafford then three points would see us in range to pounce on any further dropped points.
Equalising late against Barcelona regained the momentum that had been lost by Birmingham’s last minute equaliser. This could still be the most successful season in the club’s season and to be able to say that on the second of April, considering everything that has happened, is already remarkable.