Resting and coping

Morning all. Welcome to a brand new week.

I don’t know if this is at all interesting, or meaningful in any way, but the list of players who didn’t feature at Mansfield caught my eye. We were without David Raya, Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino, Declan Rice and Martin Zubimendi – just 2 short of a starting XI, all made up from defenders and midfielders.

At the other end of the pitch, every single one of our listed attacking players took part, apart from Viktor Gyokeres who didn’t get off the bench. Eberechi Eze, who scored our second goal, is categorised as a forward on the official website, although I’d lean more towards midfield for him. I guess we’re splitting hairs, and it doesn’t really matter anyway.

I was glad to see the manager give Rice and Zubimendi in particular some time off. The Spaniard has played the most outfield minutes of any Arsenal player so far this season, and I think it’s fair to assume that his recent form might be connected to that. In Spain they have a winter break in the league, and there is a significant difference in the physical effort required in the Premier League.

Last season he made 48 appearances across all competitions for Real Sociedad, for a total of 3’955 minutes. To this point, he’s made 40 appearances for Arsenal, racking up 3’253 minutes. Chances are he’s going to eclipse that between now and the end of the season. It’s also worth noting that in the Premier League this season, no player has covered more yards than Zubimendi, so it’s understandable if there’s a touch of fatigue informing some recent performances. I don’t know how much a few days off in March will help in that regard, but it certainly can’t hurt as we approach the business end of the campaign.

The schedule gets busy again this week, with a trip to Bayer Leverkusen, a home game against Everton before the second game against the German side, before the Carabao Cup final the following weekend. Then, the March Interlull, and I have to tell you, I’m absolutely dreading it. These are not competitive games. For example England play two friendlies against Uruguay and Japan, and while I accept this might be an opportunity for managers whose teams are going to the World Cup in the summer, I really, really hope that they prioritise player welfare.

For all the noise around Arsenal right now, all that guff and nonsense about set-pieces and time-wasting which is essentially a media construction when you look at the actual stats, one thing that rarely gets mentioned is how we’ve coped with injuries to key players this season. We’ve seen spells on the sideline for Bukayo Saka, Noni Madueke, and Viktor Gyokeres; Gabriel twanged his hamstring playing for Brazil; Ben White has been in and out; Martin Odegaard, the captain and the kind of player who can bring some of the control we crave at this moment in time, has been in and out most of the season, and more out than in; Mikel Merino’s season ended in January; Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus have only recently returned after serious injuries and long spells out which may well have diminished them permanently. Time will tell with Havertz but I think it’s inarguable that Jesus has never been the same since that World Cup injury in 2022, and that most recent year out of the game looks to have taken a toll.

Then, on Saturday, Riccardo Calafiori went down with what looks like a hamstring strain, and Leandro Trossard had to come off with an unspecified problem. Yes, we built a big squad to cope with that, but the definition of cope is to deal successfully with a difficult situation. It means it’s not easy, and it hasn’t been easy, but this group of players has dug in and done what has needed to be done, for the most part. To my mind, while I know it can be hard going watching us at times, I still think these players deserve big credit for that, and all I hope for between now and the end is a relatively clean bill of health.

At this point of the season, every single one of those players is feeling something. An ache, a strain, a niggle here or there. That’s not unique to us, by the way, the same applies with other teams and other players, but perhaps our recent experiences of finding ways to win despite key players being absent will be the thing that helps us get over the line. Fingers crossed.

Right, I’m going to leave it there. Stand by for an Arsecast Extra, as always. We’ve already put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com. So fire away using the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server. The pod should be out around midday.

For now, have a good one.

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