We are all well aware that the last few years have seen Arsenal struggling to cope with a lot more players and playing days missing due to various injury problems than any of our rivals. I remember seeing a chart last season showing the injury situation for Premier League clubs over the previous 10 years and I think only Newcastle United´s was worse than Arsenal’s.
Then Arsene Wenger admitted and addressed the issue and the early stages of the season suggested that the addition of another couple of fitness experts and whatever else had been done behind the scenes had got the Gunners sorted. Or that was the case until the last month or so when the injury list has been steadily growing.
So now we are back in the same old story and were all on tenterhooks while our international stars went off around the world to represent their countries. But is it really that bad for Arsenal at the moment? I would say not and here is why.
The club´s injury problems right now are as bad as they have been all season but as you can see from this injury chart on Just Arsenal it is far from being a crisis. There are seven first team players on the list but two of them, Bellerin and the Ox, are expected to be able to play some part in the game on Saturday. Two more, Walcott and Ramsey are due back in a couple of weeks, Wilshere says four weeks, Rosicky six and Welbeck eight.
And when you look at the rest of the Premier League clubs, our main rivals Man City also have seven players out while Man United and Liverpool have more. Arsenal may be in the top half of the table for injuries but if we do get two players back this weekend it will put us back in the bottom half.
So is there really an injury problem at the club or is this just normal wear and tear that you expect from a physically demanding sport?