Despite a rough start, Arsenal’s fitness has been stellar as reflected in the season’s final Injury League table.

Since the end of March, Arsenal have seen only a small number of extended injury periods for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (iliopsoas, hamstring), Danny Welbeck (knee), and Mathieu Debuchy (hamstring).

Laurent Koscielny (groin), Per Mertesacker (ankle) and Wojciech Szczęsny (ribs) only experienced brief, one-week trips to the treatment room during this period.

As a direct result, Arsenal steadily dropped down the Injury League table, adding only 17 points during that time – the amount of man-weeks a team accumulates from players listed on the PhysioRoom Injury Table.

In sharp contrast, Stoke City, Liverpool, Southampton, Manchester United,  Everton, Aston Villa and Newcastle United all have added between 30 and 66 points each for the same period. Only Leicester City (17 points) and West Bromwich Albion (14 points) have matched Arsenals fitness accomplishment – something that may have helped save the season for both clubs.

This allowed Arsenal to drop below Aston Villa from fourth to fifth place in the final week, having been second for much of the season.

This is Arsenal’s lowest position in the Injury League since it’s inception five seasons ago.

Chelsea, the 2014/2015 Barclay’s Premier League title winners, have been at the bottom of the list all season, finishing with only 92 points. They have shown that good fitness leads to a consistent squad, having rotated a total of only 22 players until the last few matches.

Interestingly enough, Arsenal out-performed Chelsea in the second half of the season by only one point: winning one more game, scoring 5 more goals, and conceding 5 fewer. This is likewise partly attributable to having their fittest squad in quite a number of years.

This leaves no doubt that The Gunners could have been clear title challengers this season had the first half not been a tumultuous set of injury setbacks.

Injury League Table – Last Updated 27th May 2015
Injury League Table – Last Updated 27th May 2015