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The 64-year-old stated that he still does not know why the club endure so many injuries. That is despite an ongoing root-and-branch investigation and reform of their entire approach to physical conditioning.

During the media conference, Wenger was asked about his "shock" that Aaron Ramsey had suffered another hamstring problem on the eve of the Champions League tie against Galatasaray. The only surprise was his surprise. Arsenal face yet another big game with another big list of sidelined players. Right now, nine are out. It is damning, and so damaging to their chances in both Europe and the league.

"We made a lot of changes [to the fitness regime], yes," the manager said. "We have not found out why it [Ramsey's latest injury] happened."

When asked what those changes were, Wenger paused and exhaled before stating it would require a "long" answer.

The most staggering thing is that this problem has been recurring for such a long time. The following is a Wenger quote from December 2009. It is troubling just how much it describes the current situation. "We pick up more injuries than the other big teams, that is true," he said. "You cannot say there is not a reason for it, but we have not yet found it. It's the worst season for injuries for us."

Not quite. It has remained one of Arsenal's worst problems for so many seasons since. According to PhysioRoom.com, Arsenal have suffered 745 injuries since the 2004-05 season (and a total of 889 since the website's records began in 2002), which is 14 percent more than any other club in the Premier League. To put that in more tangible terms, Wenger must deal with almost 75 injuries a year, on average. The next closest in the Premier League is 64.

Arsenal spokespersons dispute the nature of those stats, fairly indicating that no independent study could have the same in-depth knowledge they do. The club also point to the amount of impact injuries - those from tackles - that do add more complexity to the figures. The effect is nevertheless still clear.

Arsenal regularly face crunch games with a crippling amount of absences. This week, the list reads: Olivier Giroud, Mathieu Debuchy, Theo Walcott, Ramsey, Mikel Arteta, Serge Gnabry, Yaya Sanogo and - although he has been named to the squad midweek and is likely to be fit for the trip to Chelsea on Sunday - Jack Wilshere.

Many of the first-team players feel that a lot of this is just "bad luck," according to sources. That is something Wenger has himself regularly mentioned, too.
The sheer numbers indicate it must be down to much more, however, not to mention the fact it is an issue they are so deeply looking into. While Arsenal are playing it down, sources state it is a subject of deep and intense discussion behind the scenes.

There's also the way so many players suffer the same types of injuries, not least with soft tissues such as hamstrings.

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has recently been put forward as a potential successor to Wenger, and is also rare as a coach with a degree in physiotherapy. He is known to be obsessive about prevention of such injuries. "I always believe every injury can be avoided," Martinez said in 2012. "I don't believe in soft-tissue injuries. If you get a soft-tissue injury in football, a mistake has been made."

The key for Arsenal is finding where those mistakes lie.

One problem with such a question is that the very processes of so many injuries are so fluid and come with so many factors. Much can influence one strain, from the number of recent games played, to the angle of contact.

That makes discussion of the issue hugely complicated, and dependent on a certain amount of conjecture. From talking to those around the club, a series of different theories are put forward. One former player is privately much more critical of the Arsenal approaches than many of his old team-mates. He has told representatives that the injury prevention programme was simply not up to the standard of his national team. He also maintained that was not an isolated opinion among the squad.

Another potential issue put forward focused on the recovery period after injuries. One source stated that returning players are moved from working with the physio to working with the fitness coach rather quickly. This is notable because of the different type of work involved.

Representatives of some squad members have also privately complained that there is a "hastiness" in putting recovering players back in the match squad, partially because the squad is often stretched, so the problem may even perpetuate itself.

Many of the theories actually revolve around another recurring theme: whether the manager has stayed as close to the modern trends of the game as he might have.

Former Arsenal player Stewart Robson has been a regular critic of Wenger, and last year alluded to a regular complaint in football science circles. "I met one of the members of Arsenal's sports science department and he said he told Arsene Wenger on many occasions that 'you are working the players too hard' and Wenger took no notice," Robson told ESPN. On the other side, some sources have stated Wenger prefers his players to train with the ball as much as possible, and isn't so interested in weights and strength work as others might be.

Dutch physio Raymond Verheijen has been the most vocal critic of Arsenal's conditioning, and has boiled it down most brutally. "When Arsene Wenger came to Britain in the mid-'90s his training methods were revolutionary," Verheijen said. "But the problem with revolutionary people is that they're only revolutionary once in their life, so 20 years on they become average. And then they become prehistoric."

Out of all of this debate and so many alternate views, one thing is at least certain. Wenger is well aware there is a problem that must be fixed, and has at least taken the initial steps in bringing Arsenal up to speed.

American fitness specialist Shad Forsythe was recruited from the German World Cup-winning squad in July 2014 and sources said the manager has been "excited" about his arrival. Millions have also been spent on the sports science department.

That does not mean any change will be instant. The club are continuing to investigate, and will then likely have to adjust to any new approaches after that. This will be a long-term process. So far, the changes have been small. Arsenal are tweaking the workload on players in the build-up to games, and subs are now warming up right through matches, rather than just before they come on.

Wenger will hope all of this gradually builds up to a big transformation, and a radical reduction in the rate of injuries. Arsenal need it.

Anything else would add insult to injuries.

Source ESPN.

Little a month old article but worth of sharing .

Great article, +1. Makes perfect sense, and it's just how I expected it to be. Wenger seems to stubborn to realize when he works his players too hard, and the part about how he doesn't focus much on weight training (while a manager like Ancelotti does) shows the difference in the number of injuries between my club and Arsenal.

arsenal need proper physios and proper medical staff and health and fitness carers

I think Arsenal's physios are very poor I would have accepted as a bad luck if it happens once but it happens always each season I won't call it bad luck there is something wrong that needs to be addressed else it will continue harm them.

You can blame Wenger for his tactics, but it's certainly not just fault that players are always injured.

@dynastian98

+1 . Watch how Mourinho carefully nourishes Costa . He did same thing with Drogba back in 2005-2006 to turn him into constant monster . Drogba was also suffering from multiple injuries in the beginning .

Giroud recovered faster than was expected and therefore won't be playing today in CL because he was not registered . Can that speedy recovery be the work of newly signed fitness specialist Shad Forsythe ?

Forsythe had previously worked with Germany and for US Olympic training centers. Forsythe also has a background in exercise physiology and biomechanics. The addition of Forsythe coincided with new training facilities and training approaches. Forsythe promised a brighter and healthier future for their players but it is evident that nothing has really changed, and injuries are still a huge issue.

@quikzyy

It is not coincidental when Arsenal has continually had so many injuries, regardless of the significance. For example, Ozil is currently out after rupturing a knee ligament. This may be a freak accident type injury but Ozil has been with Arsenal for less than two years and by time he returns from this injury, he will have missed a total of 27 games with Arsenal. Over his career from 2008-2013 at Schalke and Werder Bremen, Ozil missed only 17 games. I do not think it’s coincidental that Ozil suddenly started becoming “injury prone” as soon as he joined Arsenal.

@Marcus

Not to mention that Ozil was injured at Real Madrid for a grand total of, wait for it, 0 games! He's spent more than 3 months in total at the sidelines at Arsenal already, and he's hardly been there for more than a season.

Wow 0 ? Someone show this to Wenger . However, I think in La Liga players get less injury time due to less physical style of the league . Not sure if there are stats to back it up . Need to search it .

You're saying that like Wenger was kicking them to knees on training. I think we would all like to know what's behind that. With Ozil injury last season we all saw that Ozil played every match till he was total tired, and then we all expected an injury.
I'm not saying it's not his fault, but not JUST his, there are lot of coaches on training, which probably needs to be sacked, who knows.

I think a lot of it has to do not only with the type of physical training they use, but also the footballing philosophy.

Let's not forget who it was that pioneered the diving, in English football. It was Wenger's Arsenal, whose players would flop over at a moment's notice, much to the frustration of the rest of the league (where this type of thing was pretty absent, compared to the leagues that Wenger bought his players from).

Why do I bring that up? Not just to throw a dig at Arsenal, but it hits at the type of player, and type of footballing play, that Wenger chooses. Arsenal, since Wenger arrived, have always been rather 'lightweight'. They've gone for mostly dainty, skillful players, which is great in terms of talent and was indeed revolutionary at the time, but which also faced the rest of the league, who were MUCH more physical.

Long-time students of the PL will remember how teams learned to disrupt Arsenal's flow, and finally rein in the Invincibles. They played HARD and physical against Arsenal, and Arsenal (and Wenger) simply didn't know how to deal with this. They started losing more often, stopped winning trophies, and started getting their players injured all the time to make things worse. Only some of this can be blamed upon the physios and the fitness trainers.

Much of it can be attributed to the fact that Wenger's football team is just too SOFT for the PL's style of play. Back when he had athletes like Henry, Vieira, Campbell, Ljundberg etc, this wasn't so bad, because they could keep up. But now it;s all players like Wilshire, Arteta, Ozil, Cazorla and Ramsey, who have great technical ability, but simply cannot compete on a physical level with the race-horses that are charging around them.

This is also one of the reasons I believe that Barcelona (and Messi) would struggle to replicate their form, if they played in the PL instead of La Liga. They have smaller, less athletic players who rely on skill and gentle passes instead of the speed and strength that most PL players have. They can prepare themselves for individual games against PL opposition, but to play an entire season against PL teams?

I think they'd be just as injury-prone as Arsenal, if not more.

Wenger has had years to correct/change this. As always, his stubbornness is what's holding himself back.

lol even when there is no link to Barça, it suddently appears...
Why not talking about Arsenal loosing their best player to other teams and constantly upgrading young talented, its good for Football and teams who do this are making the average level higher, but they dont benefit from it, its the buyer team who get the final product ready to use.
Ozil of Arsenal has no relation at all with the old Ozil, and well Arteta isnt good enough nothing about his athletics.

Lol Lodatz obsessed enough to find a way to bring it back ;) well done.

Barça has nothing to prove, played the cream of PL and their results talk of theirselves...

I would kill to see Barça-Tottenham fixture, this would shut your mouth forever.

Why could Yaya Toure, Cesc, Alexis be the main attraction there, if it was that easy to score in Spain why Suarez didnt scored yet ? Why Song looked like a noobie when he goes playing Spanish opposition ? Do you really think Neymar/Messi/Suarez perform because they are in less physical league ? Are you confusing Football and Rugby ? Are you even thinking when you start talking about your dreams ? Why Akinfeenwa isnt Ballon d' or yet lodatz ? :D

Look at this video carfully, you will understand why South American players are the best in the world right now, specially the end.

Stay on topic please, tiki. :)

"if it was that easy to score in Spain why Suarez didnt scored yet ? "

Because he's been busy notching up 4 assists in 3 league games ALREADY, instead, and helping Messi get his hat-tricks. Do you even watch your own team?

Yeah a pitty there is no Spurs level in Spain defensively to score super hattricks....

Do you really imagine that you're winning, here?

Please stick to the topic.

Do you imagine yourself playing a video game here ?

No, I imagine myself attempting to have a conversation with other forum members about Arsenal's injury problems, and their causes. To bolster my case, I linked it to another claim I have made in the past, showing how I believe the two cases are related.

Currently, the only thing spoiling this conversation.... is you.

Anyway thanks for the laugh lodatz, nice thread Marcus.

Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere out for three months following ankle surgery