Only Leeds United have suffered more injuries than Arsenal in the Premier League this season, according to figures published this week.
Sky Sports report that among Premier League sides, only Leeds United have suffered more injuries than Arsenal’s 26 this season.
Sky highlighted that William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Cristhian Mosquera, and Kai Havertz are all currently out, though it’s worth mentioning that Leandro Trossard should have been included and Declan Rice is currently ill.
On top of those six, Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Viktor Gyokeres, Noni Madueke, Christian Norgaard, and Piero Hincapie have all spent time on the sidelines with injury complaints this campaign.
Sky’s figure didn’t even include Max Dowman, who was today ruled out of action for two months with an ankle ligament problem.
The 15-year-old made his debut for the Gunners earlier this season, racking up five senior appearances, and he likely would have been involved over the festive period if not for the setback.
It’s a wonder that at the time of writing, Arsenal remain top of the Premier League table, top of the Champions League table, and in the quarter-finals of the League Cup. That’s a feat beyond most fully-fit squads at this point in the season.
Arsenal have been unlucky, there’s no doubt about that. Just look at Odegaard, who has suffered three separate contact injuries in circumstances no one could have predicted or helped him to avoid.
Yet questions remain around all the muscle injuries, and whether the club are doing enough to rest players at the right times. Mikel Arteta spoke out on Tuesday to at least deny that his training methods are part of the problem.
“Not training, no, because we don’t have time to train,” Arteta said. “So, training is not there. But obviously, the fact that you are missing players, you are loading other players more. That’s a consequence of that and it’s a really dangerous.
“The fact that we have some others who have long-term contracts that haven’t been with us since the beginning of the season. But, yeah, it’s a test for the team, and so far, we have reacted very, very well to that.”