Another central midfielder bites the dust

So far this season Arsenal has been going through central midfielders about the same way Spinal Tap goes through drummers and the hits just keep on coming. Aaron Ramsey had to leave today’s match against Watford in the first half with an injury.

“He has a calf strain,” Wenger said after the match, per Arseblog. ““We don’t know how long he’ll be out for yet.”

Update: The Daily Mirror is saying that “there are fears” Ramsey will be out for a while, and could miss matches against Chelsea, Liverpool and the next rounds of both the FA Cup and the Champions League.

So to recap: Granit Xhaka is currently serving a four-match ban. Santi Cazorla is injured and seems to be quite far away from making a return. Mohamed Elneny is still at the Africa Cup of Nations. Oh, and we go away to Chelsea this Saturday, where we might very well start a midfield duo of Elneny and, uh, Alex Oxlade-Chaberlain?* Not ideal.

Given that there are reports Ramsey left training on Friday with “a hamstring niggle,” part of the blame for this injury has to go to Wenger for playing him while he wasn’t fit, which he sadly has a wont to do.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go think about the upcoming Chelsea match and start blasting The Smiths.

*A previous version of this article mentioned Elneny as a possible starting option on Saturday. I apologize and will flagellate myself on your behalf.