After our scintillating 4-2 win over Leeds at the weekend, Mikel Arteta chose to keep the same Arsenal starting XI (possibly the first time ever) for the trip to Rome to play Benfica.
But sadly it did not provide the ame performance or result, and I am fully expecting Arteta to make quite a few changes for today’s game against Man City.
Although fans complain when Arteta rotates players that are in form, the fact is that the boss rings the changes to keep the team fresh and fit to last this exceptionally gruelling fixture list we have this season.
I am now going to show you list of the current injuries in the Premier League this week, and you will find Arsenal in a most unusual position….
- Crystal Palace: 9 players
- Liverpool: 7 players
- Burnley: 6 players
- Leeds United: 6 players
- Leicester City: 6 players
- Southampton: 6 players
- West Ham United: 6 players
- Brighton and Hove Albion: 5 players
- Manchester United: 5 players
- Newcastle United: 5 players
- Sheffield United: 5 players
- Chelsea: 4 players
- Wolverhampton Wanderers: 4 players
- Aston Villa: 3 players
- Tottenham Hots: 3 players
- Everton: 2 players
- Fulham: 2 players
- Manchester City: 2 players
- West Bromwich Albion: 2 players
- Arsenal: 1 player
Courtesy of Untold-Arsenal
As we all know, Arsenal fans are used to seeing whole swathes of players in the treatment room for long periods, so is this proof that Mikel Arteta has found the balance between keeping his players fresh and not suffering burnout from overplaying?
And our one injury of course is Thomas Partey, and it is currently hoped that our new signing could be returning to the squad very soon. Arsenal.com reported yesterday: “Thomas is progressing well from a strain to his hamstring against Aston Villa on 6 February and will continue to be assessed ahead of Sunday’s match.”
So, Arsenal may not be flying high in the League, but it looks like Arteta is getting something right that could help Arsenal immensely if he can continue to keep our injuries and fatigue to a minimum…
if MA rotate today and field a weak ‘team B’, then we lost big say by 5goals or more, will you guys forgive him knowing he was thinking of europa?
Remember some of AW embarrasing losses were as a result of resting players for UCL games. i remember the loss to utd before our second leg game against Ac milan which we won by 2-0 albeit loosing 5-0 to utd on sunday same week
We have a large squad and are only in league and 1 other competition.
Why on earth would we need to choose or can pros only play 1 game a week now? Other teams are in 4 comps still, then you can worry about this.
You can’t quote this category in isolation. You also need to take into account the categories of “Fit but not match fit so CAN’T play more than 30 mins”, “Will probably be injured again soon so we WON’T play them for over 30 mins” and “Lost their mojo after injury so we “SHOULDN’T” play them for over 30 mins.
I think we are close to the top on all of these…
👏 👏 👏
Arteta is bringing arsenal to its knees. Fact. Worse for decades now.
To be realistic, all teams have injury worries. Although injuries can affect the teams’ balance, it’s not an excuse for our current form. We are still not balanced on the creative front. Arsenal is in transition now, so we have to take it!