The present international duty is giving Arsene Wenger serious dilemma over his players as the French coach looks forward to the Manchester United clash on November 19. Six players are reportedly set to miss the match and news of injuries to his star players is giving him sleepless night.
Their next two matches against United and PSG are crucial to their season as their usual November slip set to creep in and Wenger’s efforts to avoid that may have hit the rock with injuries to his star players.
Alexis Sanchez suffered a hamstring injury while on duty with Chile while Hector Bellerin is reported to have picked up an ankle injury while representing the Spanish U21 side. And according to Wenger both Laurent Koscienly and Olivier Giroud are not 100 per cent fit and both are likely to feature for Didier Deschamps side despite concerns over their fitness.
They are unbeaten in their last 16 matches, their last defeat was the 3-4 loss to Liverpool on the opening day of the season and Sanchez has been instrumental in achieving that record.
Arsenal are currently fourth on the league table with 24 points and their usual November dip in form seem to have started. They have suffered the most defeat in the 11th month, averaging 1.6 points per game in the past seasons.
They face a run of tough matches this month. They had to come from 2 goals down to defeat Ludogorets 3-2 in the Champions League and missed the chance to go top of the table after a 1-1 draw with Tottenham.
They face a United side that look revived after their impressive 3-1 win over Swansea and Wenger is yet to defeat Mourinho in the league. In the Champions League a win over PSG will enable them to avoid clubs like Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The Gunners form at the start of the season notwithstanding, the November curse has been their undoing in the past seasons and fans are used to it by now.
Wenger and his team as well as the fans will be hoping is November is different.