Rather surprising news has emerged from London Colney today. In an Arsenal.com press release, Arsene Wenger has confirmed:
“Everybody in is good shape, apart from Mathieu Debuchy, who has a little hamstring problem. We don’t know how bad it is. Apart from that everybody should be available [for the Hull game].”
With an incredible 27 eligible first team players now available, this is excellent news for the Gunners manager.
He continued:
“We are at a period of the season where it’s going to be important to have everybody on board and to see everyone fit makes us stronger. We are on a good run, we want to keep it going and the fact that we have plenty of [selection] opportunities is very interesting for me.”
Arsenal look set for a 19th consecutive top four Premier League finish this season, with the lofty heights of a second place finish for the first time in a decade, still attainable. Yet Wenger’s men have again failed to mount a sustainable title charge, with many pointing towards the clubs poor injury record as a factor. In December last year, The Telegraph produced a highly detailed summary on where the Gunners stood on injuries over recent history – brutally highlighting their poor record in the area. Amazingly, but not surprisingly, only Newcastle were identified as having had more days lost due to injury since the 2003-2004 season than Arsenal. No Premier League team in the top four has had more injuries in the same period of time.
Today’s announcement reinforces that movements behind the scenes at Arsenal are paying off. Last summer’s appointment of fitness coach, Shad Forsythe, was hailed by some as the most important of the transfer window. The 40-year-old American, who was head fitness coach for Germany’s 2014 World Cup winning side, joined Wenger’s backroom staff in August to work alongside Arsenal fitness veteran, Tony Colbert. It was hoped Forsythe’s appointment could help minimise the squad’s injuries through modern prevention methods. It seems that the new techniques are paying off and now Arsenal have an almost complete squad to choose from in their upcoming fixture against Hull City on Monday.
With so many fit players to choose from there has never been a better time (literally) to use Read Arsenal ‘Squad Selector’ to pick your first XI. Upload the team you would select against Hull and let us know on Twitter with the hashtag @HighburyClock.
