Arsenal’s injury crisis gives Mikel Arteta a pre-season headache

As Mikel Arteta and Arsenal enter into their first pre-season as defending champions in 22 years, they will be well aware of the fact that they will be the hunted and not the hunter. And while all the players and Arteta himself will be relishing this prospect as we are just under a month away from the season opener, he already has a headache to deal with.

And that headache is the post-World Cup injury crisis to three of his most important players.

Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, and William Saliba were three of the most crucial bedrocks in the Gunners’ pursuit of glory last season. But all three of them will be out in some capacity or another in terms of their injury and the extent of it.

For starters, it has recently been reported that William Saliba is set to be out for a “long time” after injuring his back in France’s semifinal defeat to Spain. It later emerged that the defender actually played through that back problem throughout the World Cup. While surgery has been avoided as of now, managing back issues is a very delicate matter and his rehab will be very very crucial.

Bukayo Saka was playing through the pain barrier himself after it emerged that he was dealing with pain in the achilles that meant he could not start nor finish games for England in the World Cup. While he eventually did play the entire Bronze Final and scored a hat-trick against France, his health and fitness will again be a huge talking point given that Arsenal’s quest to bring in Morgan Rogers as potential cover was gazumped by their London rivals Chelsea. 

Saka has played a lot of football over the last 3 seasons and it is now slowly beginning to take its toll, having missed 15 games last season due to a multitude of injury problems that have ranged from hamstring to hip to the achilles she is dealing with now. The sooner he is given a load off and rested adequately the better.

And then we come to Rice. The 27-year-old is arguably one of the most durable players in the Premier League. But even he is now feeling the effects of what non-stop playing time can do. In an interview he opened up about battling through neural hamstring pain, which is a different branch from the normal hamstring injuries. And by the latter stages of the World Cup, he was also playing through illness which saw him get subbed after the first half in the quarters against Norway, and despite him trying gamely in the semis against Argentina, he was unable to exert the same influence.

He is another player who is due a big rest, which is a big factor in Arsenal’s interest in Newcastle United midfielder Bruno Guimaraes.

Three key players. One of them is ruled out for a substantial time, while the other two are teetering on the edge of a major injury if they continue to defy the pain barrier that they find themselves in.

Can Arteta find a way to keep them healthy, whether from the transfer market, or internally? It could very well define their season before it even begins.