Arsenal often face heavy scrutiny and criticism for their injury record, but they aren’t alone.
Of the top clubs, both Manchester sides and Liverpool have suffered from a number of injuries this season, and Manchester City will be without captain Vincent Kompany at Arsenal on Monday night.
“I don’t think just of Man City and Arsenal, I think all the clubs have a lot of problems with injuries because you play so many games,” Manuel Pellegrini said in his pre-match press conference on Friday. “There are so few hours to recover from game-to-game, it’s impossible for the top players that must also continue playing internationals for the whole season.”
Arsenal will be without Francis Coquelin, Santi Cazorla on Monday, while Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck are yet to play this season. Alexis Sánchez, like City’s Sergio Agüero, could return to for the game but both have sat out with muscle injuries in recent weeks.
We’ve heard a lot about soft tissue injuries, but most top clubs suffer from them and Pellegrini clearly has sympathy for the Gunners.
“I think that Arsenal have, during the whole season, had very important players injured a lot of the time.
“They couldn’t play the amount of games they were needed but that’s why you need to have a good squad at the beginning of the season.”
Arsenal do have a strong squad, and the likes of Mathieu Flamini and Joel Campbell have been given the opportunity to prove their worth over the course of the last month.
When it comes to injuries, Arsenal aren’t alone.