Arsenal: Injuries return for traditionally key period

Arsenal are expecting the returns of Mesut Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Alexandre Lacazette. They come back ahead of a key period that the Gunners have traditionally mastered.

It’s not how it starts, but how it ends. The famous adage does, for most things, ring true. In any story or event, the end is, in the end, what matters most. The very phrase that all footballers love, ‘at the end of the day’, is a perfect representation of this. The end is what matters most.

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Thankfully for Arsenal and Arsene Wenger, especially more recently, they have grown accustomed to ending seasons in peak form, at least close to it. While they have had major issues at other points in the year, when it comes to the months of April and May, the Gunners, invariably, recover at least some element of pride.

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They have won three of the last four FA Cups, for instance, much of the more important games against the more testing opposition coming in the latter stages of the competition, and thus the season — they beat an improving and now relentlessly brilliant Manchester City and Premier League champions Chelsea in the semi-final and final last year.

In 2012/13, they won eight of their final ten games. In 2013/14, they won five successive games to close out the year, ensuring another top-four finish. In 2014/15, akin to two years prior, they won nine of their final ten games to close the year out strong. The next season, they were unbeaten in the final ten games, pipping Tottenham Hotspur to second place thanks to a Newcastle United-shaped capitulation on the final day. Even last year, Arsenal won their final five games again, though this time, it was not enough to haul their way back into the top four. The pattern is clear: Wenger’s sides finish strong.

And so again this year, they are in the perfect position to end an undoubtedly disappointing year on a high. Not only is their form beginning to turn, dismantling a good AC Milan side over two legs and dispatching with Watford in a comfortable fashion in between, but they are also getting healthy, welcoming back players from extended periods of unavailability and boosted by news of potential absentees from the international break.

All of Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey are set to be quite alright for the crucial first leg of the Europa League quarter-final against CSKA Moscow in a little over a week’s time after scares during the international break, while Alexandre Lacazette has returned to training from minor knee surgery that has seen him absent for nearly two months. A welcome sight indeed.

The upcoming few weeks until the end of the season is a traditionally key period for Arsenal. In recent years, they have either climbed the table, won trophies, or both. Although the top four is likely beyond them — a 13-point gap to Spurs in fourth is hefty indeed –, the Europa League is still to play for and is very a much a competition worth fighting for.

Next: Arsenal: Mid-Season player rankings

The return and avoidance of long layoffs, then, for all of these players is extremely good news indeed. As the season reaches its climax, so too might Arsenal.