Mikel Arteta defends Arsenal’s training methods despite a mounting injury list, admitting the situation has created a ‘dangerous circle’ for his squad
BRUGES: Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended his team’s training regime despite admitting the club’s injury crisis has created a “dangerous circle”.
The Gunners arrived in Belgium for their Champions League clash with Club Brugge missing several key players through injury and illness.
Leandro Trossard stayed in London after getting injured in Saturday’s defeat at Aston Villa, while defenders William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes and Cristhian Mosquera are all sidelined.
Kai Havertz remains unavailable and Declan Rice will miss the match due to illness.
The situation worsened when 15-year-old winger Max Dowman sustained an ankle injury in a behind-closed-doors friendly, forcing his removal from Arsenal’s Champions League squad.
Arsenal have recorded 95 injuries since the start of last season, with 28 occurring in the current campaign.
Arteta rejected suggestions that his training methods are to blame for the fitness problems.
“No, because we don’t have time to train,” he said when asked if he was pushing players too hard.
“Today we’ve done 20 minutes, so surely it’s not because we overtrained the players.”
He acknowledged the compounding effect of absences on the remaining fit squad members.
“But obviously when you are missing players, you are loading other players and there is a consequence to that, and it’s a really dangerous circle.”
Injuries to key figures like Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were pivotal in Arsenal falling short in last season’s Premier League title race.
Despite the latest setbacks, Arsenal currently lead the Premier League and are well-placed to reach the Champions League knockout stages.
Arteta said the club’s staff are continuously analysing the situation to manage player workload.
“You have to separate the kind of injuries. Some of them have been long term, and some have been acute injuries,” he explained.
“It’s something that we are constantly looking at. We have played a lot of games with a lot of players missing and that puts a lot of stress, and then you get more injuries.”
In a positive development, Gabriel Jesus could make his first Arsenal appearance in 332 days against Brugge.
The Brazilian striker has been out since rupturing knee ligaments in an FA Cup match last January. – AFP
