Arsenal may now merely dream of being as high as fourth in the Premier League but they can take some comfort knowing they occupy 4th place on the hamstring injury table.
All Alex Iwobi had to do was step onto the same pitch as Arsenal for the first time and his DNA did the rest, popping his hamstring and forcing him off.
It’s no wonder, then, that Arsenal sit so high on the Hamstring table.
That’s according to data collated by the very reliable Ben Dinnery. He put together an excellent article on hamstring injuries and their perceived increase over the holiday period.
As part of that post, he produced a table that showed the number of hamstring injuries clubs had suffered over the previous three seasons.
It is on that table, Arsenal sit fourth.
At present, Arsenal have two players out with hamstring problems – Dani Ceballos (remember him?), who is hoping to return next week, and Hector Bellerin, who could also return on Boxing Day.