It seems as though our squad is in pretty good shape.
While this season is crammed into an unfamiliar pattern and timeframe thanks to the global COVID-19 pandemic, it has resulted in a lengthy injury list for most teams. Because of the fixture scheduling being somewhat dynamic, with matches being rescheduled nearly every week, it means some clubs will be playing three games every nine days for a lengthier time period than just the usual festive fixture madness.
And that results in injuries, ailments and muscle tweaks. With pro footballers being more like finely-tuned racecars these days, longevity isn’t the priority for players. And it leaves an injury list that this season, is playing havoc with the league table.
But for once, Arsenal have been ok with injuries.
And this may be a result of the work and recruitment completed behind the scenes finally bearing fruit.
Every campaign it seems has had an injury nightmare for Arsenal. It had become a running joke, and it seemed a yearly event where the Gunners would suffer three or four injuries in a concentrated area of the squad – left-sided defenders perhaps – and it led to Arsene Wenger adapting his versatile men to plug the gaps until the crocked players would return.
But this season, certain exceptions permitting, we have been ok on the injury front. Thomas Partey has had a rotten run of luck since joining, but even our more injury-prone players have been getting in a run of games. The likes of Kieran Tierney, Hector Bellerin – these players are well known for their injury woes but have played plenty so far. And we are getting back the longer term crocked such as Martinelli, Pablo Mari and Calum Chambers.
And this fully-stocked squad may well be training and recuperating in a modified manner than previous. That would be down to the likes of Shad Forsythe, former fitness consultant for the World Cup winning Germany side. Forsythe has been at the club for a couple of years now, but his methods will now be settling in and reaping results.
Either way, we have a squad that is ready to battle the demands of an unpredictable season – and hopefully cash in on any openings that are left open by our rivals.
And we are well placed to do it with all our players at our disposal.