Forever destined to fall short? Killed by the misfortune of injuries and red cards? Stung by a failure to strengthen their squad?
Arsenal’s Premier League struggles this season have prompted debate as to the causes but, ahead of their Super Sunday clash with Chelsea, we ask: what is the true narrative of their campaign?
The Gunners are through to the Champions League last eight but they sit 15 points behind champions-elect Liverpool as they prepare to host Chelsea on Sunday, having finished as runners-up to Manchester City in the last two seasons.
Sunday 16th March 1:00pm
Kick off 1:30pm
Here, we weigh up the hows and whys behind Arsenal’s Premier League campaign and ask you to have your say on what has really gone wrong for manager Mikel Arteta and his players.
Injuries: An explanation or an excuse?
Injuries have bitten hard for Arsenal in the second half of the season, particularly in attack. In the space of the few weeks, they lost Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, with the latter two ruled out for the remainder of the campaign, leaving the Gunners striker-less.
There have been spells out for others too. Mikel Merino’s shoulder fracture, suffered in his first training session in August, seemed to set the tone for an ill-fated campaign for the club on the injury front. It has certainly been different to last term, when their key players mostly stayed fit.
So just how badly have they suffered, relative to other Premier League sides? Data from Premier Injuries puts them fourth for days lost to injury in the division, behind only Brighton, Tottenham and Ipswich, on 869. Leaders Liverpool, by contrast, have only lost 594 days to injury.
