Another long, dull international break is almost over, and it’s four days until Arsenal takes on Watford in a Premier League away fixture. It’s a little early to talk Gunners game preview material, but there’s plenty of news related to the north London club circulating on the internet right now.
Let’s take a spin.
-Forward Olivier Giroud is obviously pretty far from being the most popular or most productive player on the roster, but he is one of just three players in the entire world up for the FIFA Puskas Award.
It honors the most beautiful goal of the year, and Giroud is up for his scorpion kick against Crystal Palace on new year’s day. The BBC reports that: “The 31-year-old’s effort has been shortlisted along with those by Venezuela’s Deyna Castellanos and South African keeper Oscarine Masuluke.”
The striker will find out if he won 13 days from now. Here’s that goal by the way:
Puskas Finalist 1: Olivier Giroud’s scorpion kick against Crystal Palace, scored on January 1st 2017. pic.twitter.com/cPWwXBrVx8
— Fresh Arsenal (@Fresh_Arsenal) October 9, 2017
-In other Giroud related news (well it’s actually transfer gossip, not actual news) today, Everton are no longer interested now, and have moved on to other transfer targets. The Mirror discusses how Giroud is ahead of Alexandre Lacazette on the France depth chart, but beneath him in the Gunners’ hierarchy.
This means he could be in danger of missing out on a World Cup place next summer. The Daily Mirror writes that:
“Despite being ahead of Lacazette with Les Bleus, Giroud will be unlikely to move in front of the former Lyon hit man at the Emirates, which is where Everton’s interest originated. But despite a woeful lack of options in attack, the Toffees want to switch targets, report the Sun, giving up on a deal for Giroud.”
The other Gunners player making headlines today is center half Shokdran Mustafi, who suffered a serious injury while on international duty with Germany.
Speaking in the news conference following Germany’s World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan, German manager Joachim Loew said of Mustafi:
“It doesn’t look good, it looks like he had torn a ligament. “We’re waiting for a full diagnosis, but it looks like he will be out for a while.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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