LONDON: Grappling with injuries, suspensions and departing players, Arsenal faces a tough early challenge in its Premier League campaign with the visit of Liverpool on Saturday.
A disappointing draw in its first league game has been coupled with captain Cesc Fabregas finally moving to Barcelona and the expected departure of midfielder Samir Nasri to Manchester City. Arsenal’s chase for a first trophy since 2005 has also taken an early hit with defenders Kieran Gibbs and Johan Djourou joining midfielder Jack Wilshere on the sidelines by picking up hamstring injuries in Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Udinese in the first leg of their Champions League playoff.
Against Liverpool, Arsenal also have to cope without striker Gervinho and midfielder Alex Song after they were suspended over offenses committed in the opener at Newcastle.
While Arsenal was held to a 0-0 draw on Saturday at St. James’ Park, Liverpool also had a disappointing start to the season with a 1-1 home draw against Sunderland.
But it is Arsenal’s resources that are most stretched after an offseason outlay of barely 20 million pounds ($33 million) on Ivory Coast striker Gervinho and teenage winger Alex Chamberlain.
By contrast, Liverpool, which has American owners like Arsenal, spent around 50 million pounds over the offseason on top of an outlay of almost 60 million pounds in the January transfer window.
But Arsenal’s players are expecting owner Stan Kroenke to strengthen the squad in the final two weeks of this transfer window.
“The players sometimes think, ‘What’s going on?’ We’ve had a couple of injuries and we have to hope they are not too bad,” winger Theo Walcott said. “We have got a fairly big squad but we don’t want the squad to get lower and lower. … I’m sure the boss has got players coming in.
It was not only Arsenal and Liverpool that experienced a lackluster start to the season, with Andre Villas-Boas’ reign as Chelsea manager starting with a 0-0 draw at Stoke. The 2010 champions host West Bromwich Albion in Saturday’s late match.
In fact, the only expected title contenders to start the season with wins were Manchester rivals United and City. (Agencies)