Do Arsenal Have An Issue With Injuries?

Jun 26, 2014; Recife, BRAZIL; Germany midfielder Mesut Ozul (8) against USA during the 2014 World Cup at Arena Pernambuco. Germany defeated USA 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

With one of Arsenal’s top players once again out through injury fans have been accustomed to the knowledge that they are not going to have a full squad of our top players for the entire season. Ramsey , Wilshere, Walcott… and now Ozil. Do we have a problem with our injuries? What are we doing so wrong?

Are Arsenal cursed? Or do we contribute to our own downfall?

Recently Arsenal have topped a the injury tables since 2002 and we seem to have a real problem regarding the top players keeping fit. We suffered nearly 100 more injuries than Manchester United over the time and 300 more than Liverpool. Do we buy injury prone players or do they just rush to injure themselves once they’re here?

Well before this year Ozil had missed only 12 league games for Real Madrid in 3 years. He now looks set to miss 3 months worth with his current knee injury, so I don’t think we buy injury prone players any more than any other team. I fear it may have more to do with Wenger’s focus of technical and skill based training than this because Arsenal have always said that physicality is not something that they chase in a player. Maybe more strength training would be the answer to stopping some of these injuries?

Well I think one of the reasons we suffer so many more injuries is that we are playing a lot of games every season, given that we usually do fairly well in the cup runs and we seemingly have to qualify for the Champions League via the play-offs every single year. But data has shown that we are actually playing fewer matches now that we were before yet average injuries is on the rise, so this doesn’t explain everything.

Another theory was that when Gary Lewin left we suffered more injuries, which is true when looking at pure numbers as we suffered 60 injuries a season before hand but over 75 in the following two. However the two seasons after Lewin left was also one of the worse periods for injuries in the Premier League’s history, and all teams suffered more injuries, possibly a case of more lenient referees or something similar. We have recently signed a new physio that what meant to help these matters, but it doesn’t seem to be paying off.

My take is that at Arsenal we have created a perfect storm, a wonderful recipe for injuries. We play a lot of matches a year, and in those matches we keep a lot of possession. When we have possession we also encourage players to take it past people and draw fouls, which is when most injuries occur even if they are not instantaneous. Due to our lack of strength training it means that our players do not build up natural resistance to these knocks and as such we suffer a lot every year. On top of that I think we are also targeted with more physical play than other teams because people know we are affected by it, the recent Chelsea game showed that perfectly.

Add in a bit of bad luck, because no amount of training or style difference would have saved Ramsey’s broken leg, and Arsenal end up being close to the top of the injury table every year. You also have to look at the times there have been injuries picked up in the international break, but every club has to deal with this, see how Liverpool have fared without Sturridge. Things may have to change with Arsenal’s training regime because this injury cycle is really hurting the club’s chances of a run at consistent silverware.

What do you guys think?

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