No Premier League side has suffered more injuries than Arsenal this season, whose title challenge has been severely impacted as a result.
According to data from Transfermarkt, Arsenal have suffered 31 injuries, joint most with local rivals Tottenham, and players have missed 134 matches in total, the fifth-most in the league and nearly double that of title rivals Liverpool.
However, almost half of Arsenal’s injuries this season have been muscle related, suggesting that key players are being overplayed, resulting in long-term muscle injuries.
Sports and Exercise Science graduate Beth Caves explained that, while overworking muscles leads to microtears, a natural part of muscle growth, excessive workloads can lead to more severe tears.
She said: “Players have an increased risk of injury, as microtears can become full strains or tears, they will face muscle fatigue and therefore reduced performance, and delayed recovery.
“Overtraining syndrome may also occur, which can result in reduced immunity, long-term fatigue and hormone imbalances.”
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has come under pressure for a lack of depth in attack, with key forwards Bukayo Saka and Kai Havertz both missing large chunks of the season through muscle injuries.
Saka in particular played nearly 3,000 Premier League minutes last season, 85% of the total minutes possible, while also featuring heavily as Arsenal reached the Champions League quarter-finals.
He was also one of just eight players to start every single match of Euro 2024, including the final on July 14, before returning to Premier League action just over a month later.
Furthermore, Arsenal players have missed a whopping 64 games through knee or ACL injuries, most significantly defender Ben White, who was out for 13 matches, and striker Gabriel Jesus, who has missed nine matches with an ACL injury and is set to be out for the rest of the season.
Caves pointed out that joints are just as susceptible to being overworked and can have devastating consequences.
She said: “While muscles experience microtears, joints suffer from wear and tear, inflammation, and instability.
“Overuse can therefore lead to cartilage breakdown, ligament stress, and tendon overuse injuries.”
Durham University Professor of Sociology Martin Roderick believes the psychological stress on Premier League players can also lead to them taking drastic action to play through injuries.
While managers are interfering with player fitness levels less than they were 30 years ago, he still hears stories of players using painkilling injections to get through matches.
Roderick said: “You show me a footballer who’s over 25 and I’ll show you someone who’s constantly taking drugs, constantly in the treatment room, constantly having strapping for one source of pain or another.
“There are very few injury free players – that’s the reality of the modern game.
“The idea that players are happy to pick their money up and sit in the stand and watch is a bit of a myth.”
Roderick discussed how it is the norm for Premier League clubs to run maintenance on players, using injections and painkillers to get through a season before undergoing proper rehabilitation over the summer break.
However, doing so puts a player in a dilemma where they have to juggle fitness with maintaining their spot in the team as well as representing their country at major tournaments.
He said: “It would put a player, any player, in a terribly awkward position if their manager was saying ‘I really needed you to play. I really need you out there. Are you prepared to try and do that for us?’
“There’s no end of supply of players coming through the academy systems today who are every bit as capable and desperate for that chance.
“An injury to someone like Saka would be a perfect opportunity for someone who’s younger, cheaper and freer from injury.”
While Roderick agreed that a player like Saka has been mismanaged regarding his workload, he also pointed to the evolution of academies, where players are exposed to high intensity training from a very young age.
Saka was developing into an Arsenal regular as an 18-year-old and Ethan Nwaneri, 17, who has deputised for Saka during his injury, has played the sixth most Premier League matches before turning 18, according to Statsmuse.
Roderick said: “An academy system now is putting a lot of pressure on athletes from young ages in terms of the amount that they play and the way that their bodies are now treated as machines to be perfected.
“I think that’s where there’s a bit of a dehumanizing process going on here. They’re almost forgetting that there’s a player there.
“There is that commoditization of players these days, like a toaster, if it’s broken, you chuck it away and you replace it. And that is the model that’s being used.”
While top clubs like Arsenal have large enough squads to compensate for injuries, other sides lower down the football pyramid can struggle.
Roderick believes this treatment of athletes as disposable assets will lead to footballers retiring at a much younger age and the PFA and players could end up taking strike action.
He said: “I think it’s their responsibility to be representing their players in terms of these workload issues, and to be thinking more seriously.
“If you were talking about other professions where we saw this kind of model behaviour, they would be out on strike and saying ‘we’ve got human rights here, not just working rights.’
“There’s a combination of organizations and industry questions here to be raised about the morality of overplaying a human body to the point that it continually breaks down.”
Last season, Arsenal had eight players in the top ten most minutes played in the Premier League among the top three clubs.
These players have missed 39 league matches between them this campaign, which has severely dented their hopes of a first Premier League title since 2004.
The Gunners currently sit 15 points behind Liverpool, unable to capitalise on Manchester City’s slump in form, and are staring at a fifth straight season without a major trophy, unless they can win the Champions League.
Arsenal season ticket holder Simon Richard agrees injuries have had an impact on Arsenal’s season, but there is also an element of bad luck.
He said: “I do think our training methods could have been tweaked to avoid some injuries.
“[Saka] really ran himself into the ground in the games preceding his injury and, being our only fit striker, Havertz should not have been doing anything overly physical in Dubai.
“While we were behind Liverpool before the injuries really took hold, the injuries have taken hold and we haven’t been able to put the pressure on by constantly winning.”
Featured image credit: Ungry Young Man via Flickr under CC BY 2.0 licence
Join the discussion