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Arsenal's hard-fought win over Wolves over the weekend cannot be ignored or treated lightly, for both negative and positive reasons.
It cannot be ignored because of how important these sorts of victories are. These games where teams like Arsenal have to fight till the death and win games by small margins through the skin of their teeth.
However, on the flipside, these games should not be this close in the first place. Arsenal should not be playing in such a mediocre fashion, especially not after what we saw from them over the last few months.
Bukayo Saka has just echoed what Arsenal fans have been thinking
One thing you can fall back on is fitness and injuries. Arsenal have had a lot of them, and so have other clubs, but Arsenal have still kept their top spot in both the Premier League and the Champions League, so even in bad times, they have recorded important points to keep them up.
However, it is still a factor, and Bukayo Saka, on Monday, was nice enough to acknowledge something that causes it.
Speaking on the fixture congestion, and not having a mid-week game, he said: “It's going to be nice, It's been a really, really busy schedule. Credit to all the boys and the staff because we've been so intense, but we've been on it and we've had some amazing results.
“It's nice that we have a bit of a break, but it's not time to relax, it's just a time to reset a bit and then go again next week in the training sessions and be ready for Everton.”
That is honestly very fair. I don't think Arsenal fans or players will be using this as an excuse for the fact that they have dropped some pretty valuable points, because this fixture congestion has been similar for every big team in the country.
However, it does bring forward a topic worth having a discussion over, and I'm sure fans of other clubs will agree to it as well.
These players are not robots. They have been playing far too much for their own good in the last few years, and because of that, injuries are rapidly increasing every passing season.
This season alone, Arsenal have had to deal with so many injuries that it is almost hard to keep track of it anymore.
So, yes, it is great for these players to reset and hopefully produce even better performances after the much-needed break.
However, it is also worth noting that this cannot go on forever. Authorities have to accept it and bring a plan forward that protects the players much more than how they are protected now.