Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has sounded the alarm over a worsening injury crisis that has pushed the Gunners into what he describes as a “really dangerous circle,” with yet another key player added to an already bloated casualty list. Teenager Max Dowman became the latest victim after suffering ankle ligament damage, ruling him out for several weeks and compounding a problem that now feels structural rather than situational.
Arsenal have now recorded 28 injuries this season — the highest in the Premier League, and the trend shows no sign of slowing. The current list includes three central defenders (William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, and Cristhian Mosquera), attacking spark plugs like Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, and midfield anchors such as Martin Ødegaard and Kai Havertz. Even Declan Rice, typically one of the squad’s most durable players, has missed the trip to Belgium due to illness.
For a team with Champions League ambitions, the timing could hardly be worse.
Arteta firmly dismissed suggestions that over-training is responsible for the wave of injuries. “We don’t have time to train,” he said. “Today we did 20 minutes. Surely it’s not because we over-trained the players.”
Instead, the manager points to something more delicate, the compounding strain placed on the remaining fit players who must shoulder additional minutes. It is a vicious cycle: injuries force heavier workloads, heavier workloads lead to more injuries, and the circle spins on.
This season’s injuries have also shown frustrating patterns. Last year, Arsenal suffered repeated setbacks among their forwards and right-backs. This year, the damage is hitting both ends of the pitch: centre-backs and attackers. When Havertz was ruled out early in the season, the burden fell to Viktor Gyökeres, who then picked up his own injury. That forced Mikel Merino, a midfielder, to become a makeshift striker — a role he executed admirably, but at great physical cost. Fatigue finally caught up with him against Aston Villa, where he was withdrawn at halftime.
These are not random knocks. They are markers of structural overload.
Despite the turmoil, Arsenal are on the brink of achieving six consecutive Champions League victories if they defeat Club Brugge on Wednesday, an impressive run that would almost guarantee a top-eight finish and automatic progression to the knockout rounds.
Gabriel Jesus, returning from an ACL injury, has been added to the matchday squad. But his inclusion highlights the desperation of the moment: Arsenal must lean on a player still recovering from major surgery because options are so thin.
Leandro Trossard, who limped off during the loss to Aston Villa, did not travel. The squad heading to Belgium feels less like a Champions League unit and more like a patched-together group surviving match to match.
The uncomfortable truth is this: Arsenal are paying the price for poor squad balance and a brutal fixture schedule and only one of those is within the club’s control.
Yes, Arteta is right that over-training is not the issue. The modern football calendar leaves no space for fatigue to settle, let alone recover. Domestic fixtures, Champions League demands, international breaks, and commercial obligations have turned elite footballers into overworked assets.
But Arsenal’s planning has also contributed to the crisis.
For two seasons in a row, the club has left itself exposed in key positions particularly up front and in defence. Injuries in clusters are not freak coincidences; they are predictable outcomes when depth is too thin and versatility is overstretched.
This is where Arsenal must learn from the past. Whether in the January transfer window or through long-term recruitment strategy, the club cannot continue relying on 18- and 19-year-olds to plug holes left by established stars. Nor can it keep turning midfielders into strikers or overloading defenders until they break.
The club’s December run — Wolves, Everton, Crystal Palace, Brighton, and Aston Villa will test not just the players’ bodies but the resilience of Arsenal’s season. Without solutions, the Gunners risk seeing months of hard work unravel simply because the squad wasn’t built to endure the marathon ahead.
Arsenal’s talent is unquestionable. Their tactical structure is among the Premier League’s most refined. Their Champions League form is superb.
But no system survives when key pieces keep falling away.
Arteta has identified the danger. Now Arsenal must decide whether to act decisively or brace themselves for a season dictated not by tactics or talent, but by injuries and exhaustion.