EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR has labelled Xavi Alonso's challenge on Cesc Fabregas as "a little bit dangerous" amid fears at Arsenal that their captain might be out of action for at least a month with damage to his medial knee ligament.
Alonso, the Liverpool midfielder, and his Spain team-mate Fabregas collided as they contested a 50-50 ball in the 1-1 draw at Emirates Stadium on Sunday. Both men connected with the ball and there was no foul but Fabregas came off worse. He had to be helped down the tunnel at the interval by another Spaniard, Liverpool's Albert Riera, and he left the ground on crutches. Fabregas had scans yesterday morning prior to visiting a specialist.
Although the manager Arsene Wenger speculated after the game that his absence might be for "one week or three weeks", that now looks optimistic. Arsenal have suffered long-term injuries to a clutch of players of late and although Eduardo da Silva is close to a return from his broken leg, Theo Walcott will not be back until February from his shoulder operation and there are concerns that Tomas Rosicky will not play again this season. Rosicky has a hamstring tendon problem which was initially misdiagnosed.
If Fabregas is confirmed as a long-term casualty, it will increase the pressure on Wenger to spend in January. Adebayor was sent off against Liverpool for two mistimed tackles but he claimed that he and his team-mates had been more sinned against. "If you try to protect strikers, I would not have had a red card," he said. "You can see the tackle on Fabregas before he went off was a little bit dangerous but there was no card, not even a foul.
"I can show you the marks on legs. I was kicked a lot but I tried to stay on my feet. I don't think I deserved a red card but at least one of the Liverpool players did - (Jamie) Carragher was always fouling, so was Lucas. I made two fouls and got two yellow cards, which is not fair."
Zenit St Petersburg are optimistic Arsenal will make a bid for Andrei Arshavin within days. "The price tag for Arshavin is €21 million and we are hopeful Arsenal will make such an offer soon," said Zenit's director, Maxim Mitrofanov. Arshavin, who was central to Zenit's success in the Uefa Cup last season and a key part of Russia's Euro 2008 side, has made clear his desire to leave in recent weeks, saying he would be a player "on paper only" if he does not find a transfer in January.
Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire who is a major shareholder in Arsenal, has spoken of his concern at the club's boardroom upheavals and quashed rumours that he intends to buy a further €53 million stake. Usmanov said his London-based partner, Farhad Moshiri, was in talks at the Emirates to investigate "sharp changes" at Arsenal.
"What has happened in the last year poses questions," Usmanov said. "When in the space of a year four members of the board of directors are sacked, when the general director whom everybody had praised is changed, we consider that to be a huge matter - just to sack a major shareholder (Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith) without explanation. Mr Moshiri is now in London and is trying to find out the reasons for these sharp changes and according to what explanation we get, we will decide our strategy."
