Van Persie and Koscielny out of Stoke game

Van Persie and Koscielny out of Stoke game | News Archive | News | Arsenal.com

Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny will miss the crucial Premier League game with Stoke on Wednesday night.

The Dutch striker has a hamstring problem while the French defender is suffering from a back complaint. However both injuries are short-term and the pair may recover in time for the Carling Cup Final on Sunday.

Abou Diaby (calf) is injured but he is still suspended anyway.

Sad face for fantasy managers with Arsenal players in their line-ups... and this week that's a lot of us. I have Szczesny and van Persie so I'm light up front and vulnerable at the back. The only consolation, perhaps, is that I have Carew. So hopefully if Stoke do score it's through him.

And speaking of Stoke,

Matthew Etherington looks set to miss the Barclays Premier League clash with Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium due to a fresh injury concern.

Etherington shook off a hamstring strain to play in Saturday's 3-0 FA Cup fifth-round win over Brighton, only to be taken off with a back injury understood to be linked to a defect in his jawline

.Can someone explain that one to me?

Catching My Breath: ARS/BARCA Thoughts

I have to admit to two frailties related to writing about soccer that likely separate me (and not in a good way) from those lucky enough to do this as their primary source of income.  First, I can't stay away from the internet/instant messaging/SMS/etc. during matches - they don't even have to be terribly important ones.  If I'd been trying, I couldn't have stayed away from Birmingham and Newcastle the other day just because I had two players on my fantasy team playing in the match.  Second, once I know the outcome of the match, I generally can't bring myself to watch it on TiVo/DVR later on.  This second part is particularly poor form as there is likely important insight I'm missing out on by not going back and seeing what is happening that doesn't show up in the statistics or the match report.  What young and on-the-rise player or players are playing better than reported or conversely, which players of strong reputation are fading faster than we expected (I'm looking at you Gerrard and Lampard). I'm not proud of these things but in a life where I have a day job, a wife, and occasionally a social life I have to make some hard choices and not watching matches on DVR is one of them.

I relay those failings so I can tell this story.  Yesterday afternoon, when Arsenal vs. Barca was on live, I had work commitments and couldn't watch live.  I followed parts of it via Twitter updates when I could but I wasn't even able to follow via a "textcast" stream which would be my usual fallback.  Since the game "sounded" amazing via Twitter I figured I'd better watch later on DVR just to see what everyone was so excited about and because, you know, ARSENAL CAME FROM BEHIND TO BEAT BARCA!  Fortunately, despite the apparent self-awareness stated in the first paragraph, I tend to DVR big matches in hopes that this will be the time I keep myself from the results.  Here's some thoughts from my view-after-the-fact:

Early Injury News

I'm in meetings just about all day so I'll get some important news out before I head in. Either Jeremy or I will get back later in the day to do a more complete update but for now:

1. DROGBA IS OUT - it is only an "illness" so there likely aren't any long term implications here but regardless of what price you have him at, this is a big decision. For those who ditched him a few weeks back, your move looks much better now.
2. Also out for Chelsea - Lamps, Alex, Sturridge, Kalou, and Yossi meaning they'll be going with Cech, Ferreira, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Mikel, Ramires, Essien, Kakuta, FloMal, and the Elk. In my mind, this makes Kakuta a pretty interesting option at 6.28 and the Elk a strong bargain if you want to bail on Drogs.
3. Koscielny is out - Apparently he has a back problem seemingly out of nowhere. We should probably assume that Squillaci and Djourou will play. Both central defenders are pretty affordable but my take is that the injury diminishes the value of all of Arsenal's back line including Fabianski/Almunia.
   

Update: The Season is Live With Sane Pricing and Cleared Out Rosters...

For all those of you who rushed to create a team of Galaticos for under 60.00 yesterday, I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted.  Yahoo! reset everyone's rosters at the same time they re-adjusted prices to better reflect reality from last season.  As you confront this new reality and start piecing a roster together that doesn't include Rooney, Gerrard, Lamps, Cesc, EvdS, Bale, RvP, Elk, and whichever other defenders you filled in the rest of the places with I'll give you my first few observations...

The new guys will obviously be important in getting you to a few premium proven commodities: Koscielny, Chamakh and Silva are the only three obvious ones who are in the system so far but I'm sure Citeh will contribute one or two more options before the season starts.  All we have to do is figure out who Citeh will start in central defence - Toure? Lescott? Boateng? Onuoha? Richards? (I'd assume Toure and Boateng but who knows really).

Gunners close in on Koscielny deal

Football | Barclays Premier League | Gunners close in on Koscielny deal | ESPNSTAR.com

Arsenal are on the verge of completing a £10million deal for French defender Laurent Koscielny from Lorient.

Arsene Wenger has tracked the 24-year-old for some time, as Koscielny, who is also eligible to play for Poland, impressed in the French domestic league.

The Gunners boss is in need of cover at the back, with Sol Campbell mulling over a new one-year deal and fellow veterans William Gallas and Mikael Silvestre set to leave after the end of their contracts.

Another summer, another £10million investment in a central defender. If this one turns out half as well as the Vermaelen signing, then Gooners and fantasy managers alike will be very, very happy.