Below I have embedded some short highlights of England’s 5-0 win over San Marino at Wembley Stadium. Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck each scored a brace as England retained the top-spot in their World Cup 2014 qualifying group. The match provided a mixture of good and bad news for Arsenal fans, with Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain both grabbing headlines for very different reasons.
Theo Walcott
Theo Walcott will spend the night in hospital following what Roy Hodgson described in his post-match press conference as a “very fierce challenge”. Walcott was brought down in the opening 10 minutes by opposing goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini, and was immediately substituted with what looks like a pretty bad chest injury. As Hodgson says, there was no bad intent, but the challenge has definitely had some repercussions. Walcott will undergo x-rays to determine the extent of the damage, but the early indications are that he may have broken a rib.
Theo’s injury could be a big blow for Arsenal as broken ribs can take months to heal fully. Although he has not featured too heavily in the starting line-up so far this season, Walcott has been in pretty good form with 4 goals so far this season.
Roy Hodgson’s comments:
“We have to find out the extent of his injury but he will be in hospital overnight and he will be having a scan.
“It is a chest injury. It didn’t look good and until such time as they have X-rayed it and scanned it I really don’t know.”
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
The other Arsenal-related news of the night was that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored his first senior international goal, and England’s 5th of the evening. The ball dropped to him in the middle of the box and this was swiftly followed with a tidy first-time finish into the top corner. AOC’s goal can be seen from around 2:40 in the video.
In wishing Theo a speedy recovery it seems fate could have played it`s hand on his future without another word being said.