Yet more injury woes? Must be something in the water...

Arsenal seem to have this inability to keep their players fit and healthy. I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it seems like they are in injury overload at the moment. Could it be down to the backroom staff, or is it down to the players coming back too soon from big injuries? Who knows, but what we do know is that Arsenal are having a bit of a crisis when it comes to their injury list at the moment. So let us have a look at where the current issues lie…
Strikers
The biggest problem of course is missing the big presence up front of Olivier Giroud, which caused the panic buy of Danny Welbeck on deadline day. Adding to his three months out of the game with an ankle injury, we have Wenger’s favourite lanky striker Yaya Sanogo. He still has another few weeks to go before he returns to full match fitness, but would he get a start ahead of Welbeck? Of course we can’t forget to mention Theo Walcott, who has been out for goodness knows how long with his knee injury sustained against Spurs last year. Apparently he is close to returning to a full training programme, which will give Wenger a few more attacking options.
Midfielders
The most worrying thing here is that Aaron Ramsey, aka the Welsh Messi, is back on the injury list after going down in the derby last weekend. He’ll be out for several weeks with a hamstring problem after only being back for a matter of months from his last injury. He should definitely take his time coming back to first team action, otherwise this will just happen again and again. You don’t want another injury prone Diaby on your hands. At least he’s not injured for a change! Adding to the midfield list of woes, Wilshire and Arteta both succumbed to injury at the weekend but should be back with very few matches missed. As the Arsenal midfield is always a constant battle to get a starting spot, maybe it will help the fringe players get a game.
Defenders
Here lies the greatest weakness at the moment. Nacho Monreal is out for a few weeks with a back problem and new signing Debuchy is out for a few months with an ankle injury, not ideal with the already dwindling number of defenders you have. Could it be time to call back Jenkinson? Why did Wenger not go shopping for more defenders? Honestly who knows what goes on in that brain of his, but if another injury is suffered at the back then you may have to use Bellerin as one of the perminent full backs in the league this season. At least Chambers seems to be the big surprise package and Mr Versatility playing in all areas of defence.
So what can Arsenal do to stop the injuries occurring? I’m no Physio but it appears that all of the players are made of glass, and one hard tackle could end their playing days for many, many weeks. Wenger absolutely must go shopping in the January transfer window to help the lack of defenders at the back, because running a full campaign, including Champions League football, on six full first team defenders is madness. Another injury to the back four will mean absolute disaster and could end the hope of that elusive league trophy…
Bale.
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