so here's the standings right now when it comes to that but obviously all the talk has been on Martin oard coming off as you could see what it looked like on that situation it looked there was a bit of a Twist in the dressing room as well they said it could be a small sprain they're going to take a look at it there could be an ultrasound or an MRI but when you look at Arsenal's upcoming schedule Sunday back in action at Tottenham September 19th against Atlanta and Away to Atlanta as well in the Champions League and September 22nd Manchester City at the etad as well James this could be a tricky time ahead for Arsenal if they not to have Martin oard to these games I mean it's the it's the worst possible news for them really if he is out for what's clearly a massive week in any season um the north London Derby away from home the first Champions League game away from home and then the Premier League champions away from home I mean it's if there was ever a week you needed to Captain it was going to be this week um I mean I'd say that one sort of small Crum of comfort for Arsenal fans is is that he walked off the pitch he at least he would wasn't taken off on a stretcher or or sort of carried off little little bit of Ray of Hope there but yeah I mean from those pictures and looking at some of the Stills which looked really nasty how he turned his ankle I mean that could be anything from a sort of sprain to ligament damage and obviously if it's ligament damage then he's going to be out for quite a while but um yeah I mean he's the one player they can't really replace um you know he knits it all together so well for for Arsenal I'm sort of thinking about Now options for Sunday and The Logical one is probably Kai havit dropping back into the to to one of the eight positions that odard would play in and then maybe trying to bring Gabby Jesus if he's fit in to play up front or maybe they could play trossard through the middle but it you know it's the knock on effect you're not just losing such a talented player with such a great range of passing great temperament you know a real leader for Arsenal um it's the knock on effect to the balance of the rest of the team and and Kai havoc's playing through the middle has been so good there that um you know I think they they wouldn't want to drop hav have it deeper if they you know if they could possibly avoid it but losing odard really really causes them all sorts of problems yeah Dean Ray suspended Mel Marino who Comming he's got the shoulder injury so he's unavailable so that's a difficult scenario welcome to International Football we've all been there you know hobbling back to your Club wherever that would be at the time and and you know the manager has probably got in my experience seven or eight players away maybe more and he's having sleepless nights about who's coming back Fit And for those that have done an ankle and I don't know about Shaq but I've done it several times horrible as James said there's there's different extents but you know when you go over an ankle and and as your career goes on it just gets weaker and weaker and almost all the players strap these things up uh both ankles these days to try and protect but it really is you know you can go for MRIs and all that and and I know James was saying about walking off but it really is this 24hour thing when you wake up the next day uh and and and it's a sprain or or or it's a ligament there whichever one it is and 24 hours later normally in my experience uh you wake up and it's this thing can be swollen up and it's purple and it's black and blue and it's like oh my God uh that can be weeks you might get lucky uh and it might just be a little twist and and you're a few days or or maybe a week but it's the Perils of this sport that that that we watch and we cover and we played and it's the Perils of International Football you go away you want to represent your country it's not a World Cup it's not a Euros but it's still playing for your country and you pick up these injuries from a noia challenges and it can really derail a season at Club level depending on on on the uh the severity of it so it's a blow but it's something Arsenal like other clubs are quite simply going to have to deal with yeah that is a big week ahead as well when you take a look at what they are returning to as James said not the best news there Frank no it's not a good news but I twisted my ankle my right ankle 16 times and my left ankle uh 15 times and uh and I twisted it the first time like other God then I went back on the other side and I SED the other side six six days after I played if it's not a fracture is your bone is not touched I had 40% of elasticity of my tendon uh my ligament sorry at 12 you normally have the surgery but if you are you know and I was called a soft player in England if you are quite strong you know you do the strap and if you're an important game you're going to be on the field it's what I think it might damage your your liament for after the the the football but during that time you can handle it if you strap well you can play with it and you have going to you're going to have treatment the medical in 89 when I did my I first twisted my angle was not the same as now so I'm pretty sure they can sort AAS problem out and hopefully he can play for the Gunners I thought Frank was going to give us a whole sort of 15 year history there I thought we need like a I tell you if if I do that we'll be here another two hours but I tell Arsenal have to be look clubs are smart these days we all used to most of us just to say yeah yeah I'll play yeah yeah strap it up yeah inject it yeah you have to be smart it's a long season you know you have to protect these players uh the league is not one and lost in a couple of weeks usually not you know uh and so there's no point in my opinion trying to put a player on the field who is 50/50 with an injury depend depending on the injury and you're going to lose somebody for 3 or four months so you really have to be be smart about it if it's a couple couple of weeks hopefully for Martin oard and others these injuries are are small but sometimes you've just got to suck it up with a longer term vision and say you know what we have to cope in the meantime to protect the player and not lose him for three or four months or longer that's I think in in the current climate that is a smart thing to do here's a challenge with that if you're Arsenal you're already thinking listen for us to win this league title everything has to go well we we we really need everything to go well for us you see how City have started you've had a couple of stumbl and all of a sudden as Craig points out you're dealing with not just one injury to to a new shining but a suspension to who I thought was was ass's best player last season and now you're having to deal with this and while yes I I get the point that that odard walks off and you know they they kind of physio around him I I think the SPs game is too soon I I I just looking at the ex extent of it I just feel that that comes a little bit too quickly for him then you probably do want to chance him against Atlanta and then while yes you can strap your ankle you you don't want to be playing at anything less than 100% when you're coming up against the defending Champions and and that's the thing for me is not so much the injury or maybe the extent because I'm I think we all agree in a couple of weeks he could and should be back it's just the the how big these games are these the a North London Derby and again you can you can put the the Champions League tie against Atlanta as a side you you could make that back up and then all of a sudden a City team who come come that come that game um could be five wins on on on the spin you know it is just such thin margins in terms of winning a premier league title in terms of unseating a champion such as Manchester City you you don't need this but just just briefly on Arsenal you know these things are sent to test you sometimes and and you know they can turn this into a positive if they've got a couple of players you know one suspended and a couple of other keep players out Mareno as I mentioned has not been able to come in and play but if you can get through this period whichever it is and get the like go to toam and win and win Atlant you don't have Ard you don't have rice that's a positive it's a positive to say other guys come in have done well we have a manager who can adap you know whether it's dropping as James head half his back and Sterling coming in or trossard coming out whatever it is whatever it is and and that can be a good thing that can be a boost to the squad to say you know what we're missing these guys they're so important for us but but we can still we can manage and to get through that Premier League season and be successful you're going to have to manage so you can you could turn that into a no it can go the other way don't get me wrong it but you can if if you're looking at it from that perspective you can turn these problems to key players into a positive if you can go out and get results Frank be quiet please this is the most positive we've heard him all week about a little bit too much positive for me that guy why you here James I'm going to go to you instead Craig saying Etta could make this work for him can you agree with that well it's a new challenge for them because they've had a they've had a pretty lucky run with injuries the last couple of years generally speaking you know I mean I I spent a bit of time with some of the Arsenal Executives over the summer and when they were reflecting on on you know last season and the season before and how close they've got to City one of the one of the reasons they signed Ricardo califi was because they they recognized that their Defenders were unusually fit for every game William Cela I think was one of three uh players to play every single minute in the Premier League last season you know Gabrielle played a lot of matches odard missed very very few sacka missed very few Deon rice is obviously pretty much always available too you know they had they had a lot of luck go their way with injuries and maybe it's starting to even itself out a little bit now with with Marino being out Cur is obviously also another one who's picked up an injury on International Duty and potentially odard so it is another test for them just another bit of context here I think is you know from some of those conversations that I had with with them in the summer they were so intent on hitting the ground running they they were so so intent on making sure they didn't lose any ground at the start of the season it's one of the reasons why they they they took the very unusual step of having a pre- preseason if you like where they got the the eight nine players who weren't involved in uh either the cuper America or the Euros out to my B for for an early training camp to really make sure they hit the ground running this season and so in that context to lose the captain who of course was one of those players he was there front and center on day one in Marb Norway didn't qualify for the Euro so he had the summer off he really wanted to be at the Vanguard of this this kind of mentality of we are not going to you know fall short again we are going to absolutely push them all the way and for him now the sort of poster boy of that mentality to be facing potentially a spell on the sidelines it is test for them that they've got to overcome [Music]