Started off easy. I opened my laptop and just typed "Arsenal injuries" into Google. Hit Enter expecting a magic list. Ha! Big mistake. First few links were just news headlines shouting about players being "out long-term" or "boost as star returns" – all useless clickbait with zero actual dates or concrete info. Felt like I was wasting time already.
The Search Gets Messy
Okay, needed a better plan. Remembered the official club site usually has a section. Clicked through to *. Found the "Team" section, scrolled... and scrolled. Loads of stuff about fixtures, transfers, videos. Where was the darn injury bit? Took way too long clicking around before I finally spotted a tiny "News" link tucked away. Clicked that, saw "Injury News" – jackpot! Sort of.
Opened the latest injury article. It mentioned a couple of players like Thomas Partey and Jurrien Timber. Said Partey was out for "a number of weeks," Timber "progressing well." Felt frustratingly vague. Like, what does "weeks" mean? 3? 6? 10? And "progressing well" tells me nothing. Needed specific dates. This wasn’t cutting it.
Going Deeper (and Getting Side-Tracked)
Switched tactics. Thought maybe fan forums have better sleuths. Headed over to a couple big Arsenal forums. Man, that was chaos. Threads titled "Injury Updates" had pages and pages of fans arguing about everything except injuries – tactics, transfers, even random personal stories. Buried deep in one thread, someone mentioned Bukayo Saka had a knock but trained yesterday. Someone else said Gabriel Martinelli was fine. Felt unreliable, like gossip. Needed something solid.
- Tried searching those players' names with "return date" – saw some tabloid guesses like "Mid-Feb." Pure speculation.
- Got annoyed. Why is this so hard?
- Stumbled onto one tweet citing Ben Dinnery (some injury expert guy?). Said Emile Smith Rowe aiming for the Chelsea match. Okay, a possible date! Jotted that down.
Meanwhile, I totally forgot about Fabio Vieira until I saw his name scrolling Twitter. Had to backtrack! See, this is why keeping a running list was crucial – I kept missing players.
Building My Sad Little List
Realized I needed a better method. Opened a blank doc and just started listing names:
- Thomas Partey: Official site says "weeks." That forum post speculated "March." Put down "Mid-to-late March?" with a big question mark.
- Jurrien Timber: Official site "progressing well," lots of noise about "April/May." I'm leaning towards "Late April at best?" Felt like total guesswork.
- Fabio Vieira: Saw on the club site finally – had surgery? "Early 2024" return. What? So vague! Put "Sometime January/February maybe?"
- Emile Smith Rowe: Based on the Dinnery mention, put "Possibly Chelsea (Feb 3rd?)"
- Takehiro Tomiyasu: Saw a random note about him being with Japan. Confirmed? "Probably AFCON until mid-Feb?" No one seemed worried.
- Gabriel Jesus: Kicked my brain – he missed last game! Scoured recent reports. Club said "slight knee issue, training individually." Put "Expected back VERY soon? Possible next match."
It looked messy and full of maybes, but it was mine.
The Pain of Dates
This was the worst part. Hardly anyone gives a hard date! It's all "weeks," "progressing," "assessments." I had to cross-check forum chatter, random verified tweets mentioning sources close to the club, and the vague official site updates. Ended up with this janky timeline feeling:
- Jesus: Any day now?
- ESR: Early Feb target
- Vieira: Sometime soonish? (Jan/Feb)
- Tomiyasu: Mid-Feb after AFCON
- Partey: March feels long
- Timber: April seems optimistic, May likely?
Shook my head the whole time. Why can't clubs just say "Target return: March 12th" or something? The uncertainty is maddening.
So there it is. I spent ages flipping between sites, forums, getting confused, forgetting people, and mostly guessing dates based on scraps. Ended up with a list of names and my best, messy attempt at guesses. Hope it helps someone else who might be just as clueless as I was starting out! Wish I had better news, but injuries suck. Here's hoping everyone's back sooner than my guesses!