Last season, Arsene Wenger attributed Arsenal’s slow start to the campaign, at least in part, to a “World Cup hangover.” Including Danny Welbeck, 12 Gunners’ players took some part in world football’s great menagerie in Brazil. Podolski, Özil and Mertesacker went the distance and came back as world champions- with the effects on all three rather obvious before Christmas. Laurent Koscielny and David Ospina returned with injuries, whilst Mathieu Debuchy, Mesut Özil and Olivier Giroud picked up medium term injuries before the autumn.
With “F.A. Cup basking week” at an end, we here at Goonersphere thought it would be a good time to cut a backwards glance at the season that was; the highs, the lows, the hilarity and the boiled piss. Never forget the boiled piss, the fumes from which, once inhaled, foster bonds that last a lifetime. (Legal ed: Goonersphere bears no responsibility for readers that literally inhale the fumes of urine, be it boiled or otherwise, or any resultant injuries or afflictions, be they physical or mental, caused by sustained inhalation of steaming hot piss).
On Tuesday evening, Mikel Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Serge Gnabry took significant steps on their respective recovery roads by playing for the U-21s at Emirates Stadium. U-21 Premier League rules limit teams to three players over the age of 21 in the starting line-up, which would explain Mathieu Debuchy’s omission from this treatment room reunion party. Given that Debuchy’s injury was not muscular, one would imagine he was less in need of the workout. He will almost certainly be ready for the trip to Burnley on Saturday.
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