Arsenal have had more injuries than ANY other Premier League club this season
|Arsenal have had the most injured players out of any Premier League sides this season.
Arsene Wenger’s men have had injury problems across the pitch with only goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny managing to play in all 26 of their Premier League games so far.
The Gunners will be without left-back Kieran Gibbs for Saturday’s match against Sunderland, although Mikel Arteta is a welcome returnee after completing his European suspension.
Scoring 1 point for each player to miss a game, the table below shows Arsenal are clear leaders at the top of the injury league.
Why do Arsenal players sustain so many injuries?
Questions continue to arise over the Arsenal medical team’s recovery methods.
Fitness coach Tony Colbert is a firm believer in getting players out on the pitch when they are in the final phase of their rehabilitation/recovery.
Colbert doesn’t like having players on the exercise bike and has previously fast-tracked players back to the training pitch as soon as he deems them ‘ready’.
Theo Walcott revealed in his 2012 autobiography that even Wenger himself ‘wants to get his players back as soon as possible’ and is ‘always quizzing his physios on how long it’s going to be before someone is ready to join the group again’.
I think that Colbert and Wenger’s desperation to get players back on the pitch may contribute, but I don’t think that this can explain it all. I believe another significant contributary factor is our lack of fighters on the pitch. I’m fairly sure opposition players would be less likely to try to take Wilshere out if they felt retribution would come in the form of Adams, Bould, Keown, Winterburn, Dixon, Parlour, Vieira, Petit – even Limpar!
To illustrate my point, you will recall the Horse-face penalty miss in a 1-1 draw at Manure a few years back, and the reaction of some of the players listed above? Now I can’t possibly condone their actions, but which of Arsenal’s current squad have got that pure desire and passion for the club and to not got beaten at any cost?
My suggestion is none (Flamini the possible exception)
C’mon Professeur – lets buy some players who would die for the club!