There is no reason why Arsenal should pick up more injuries than any other club. Should these players be tired? Why should Arsenal’s players be more tired than anyone else?
Okay, Alexis Sanchez has the additional travel when he goes to South America but there is no reason why Santi Cazorla, Laurent Koscielny or Francis Coquelin should be more vulnerable to injuries.
John Terry played every game for Chelsea last season, albeit without any international football. Arsene Wenger doesn’t work the players that hard. He doesn’t do long sessions and at this time of year it is just about recovery between matches as much as anything else.
Some of the injuries are unavoidable. How can you guard against an impact injury in a game? Once players get hamstring injuries, they can sometimes get a weakness there. Soft tissue injuries can be like that. Michael Owen had that and it will be a concern perhaps for Wenger that Sanchez has picked one up now but he’s generally a fit lad so you hope it won’t be an ongoing issue.
Some of it is bad luck. And they aren’t alone — Sergio Aguero has missed a lot of games through injury and Daniel Sturridge has struggled at Liverpool.
I can’t come up with an answer any more than Wenger can but here’s a thought: maybe it is the pitches.
The surface at London Colney is very similar — if not the same — as at Emirates Stadium. The Emirates pitch is absolutely immaculate. Maybe it is too good. It is a hybrid grass pitch and it could make them more susceptible to injury when they don’t play on it.
Every injured Arsenal player
I’m not enough of an expert to know but Arsenal need to get to the bottom of it because they are in danger of falling short at home and in Europe once again.
