The Arsenal injury situation has been the subject of much discussion in recent years and just yesterday the Gunners were left counting the cost as we badly missed the attacking ability of key players like Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Jack Wilshere, Tomas Rosicky and Santi Cazorla.
Any one of those Arsenal stars might have been able to find the key to unlocking the determined Stoke City defence and beating their keeper Jack Butland. Hopefully Arsene Wenger will have at least two of those players back in action for the next game, with the Chile international star Alexis Sanchez and the German international creative genius Mesut Ozil ready to face Chelsea.
We can only hope that the two dropped points against Stoke do not end up being the difference in the title race at the end of the season. That would be a massive and unfortunate price for Arsenal to pay but Laurent Koscielny believes our injury problems have cost us a lot more than that over the last few years.
In an Evening Standard report the French centre back claims that our constant and numerous injury problems have actually stopped Arsenal being up among the very best clubs in Europe like Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
He said, ““We lose too many elements [through injury] during the season.
“It’s complicated when you cannot count on four or five guys for six months. It’s like that every year, I do not know where it comes from.
“This prevents us from moving a step closer to the top five clubs [in Europe.]”
Is he right? I would certainly say that losing the likes of Ramsey, Ozil and Giroud cost us the Premier League title a couple of years ago. And imagine how strong we might have been if Wilshere and Diaby had not been constantly plagued by injury. Will all the crocked Gunners cost us dearly again this season?