David Ospina was absent from the Arsenal squad for the Premier League game against Watford on Saturday afternoon.
The Colombian keeper allegedly returned from his international duties with a ‘sore shoulder’ and as soon as I heard that I was immediately reminded of the time that Manuel Almunia missed a number of games with a ‘sore finger’ after enduring a horror run (well, more horrific than normal).
So is Ospina actually injured or is he ‘injured’?
By ‘injuring’ Ospina before the game against Watford, the Arsenal boss would know that he would face less pressure from the media in the runup to the game against Bayern Munich and it would be a very smart move.
We also know that Wenger is very reluctant to drop players and while he might have planned on playing Cech against the German champions all along, doing that now will only be presented to the world by the press as Ospina being punished for his error against Olympiacos.
Of course, this is Arsenal so there is every chance that he is actually injured, although, given how our luck usually goes, if it is a real injury I’d have expected it to hit Peter Cech.
We’ll probably never know the truth (unless Dave starts against Bayern *shudders*) but we’ve all been around Arsenal long enough to know that injuries aren’t always what they seem.