Mikel Arteta: Injuries are ‘accident waiting to happen’ due to player workload

Mikel Arteta said long-term injuries are “an accident waiting to happen” due to the workload players face after Kai Havertz this week joined Arsenal’s lengthy list of absentees.

Germany forward Havertz has been ruled out for the rest of the season after it was confirmed on Thursday he would need surgery to repair the hamstring injury he suffered during Arsenal’s training camp in Dubai last week.

Havertz’s injury, sustained when he stretched to block a shot, means the Gunners are now without a recognised striker after Gabriel Jesus ruptured his ACL last month, and leaves Arteta with a host of senior players in the treatment room.

As well as Havertz and Jesus, Arsenal will be missing Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Takehiro Tomiyasu for Saturday’s Premier League trip to Leicester. The Gunners have also been without Ben White since November due to a knee problem but the defender could make his comeback this weekend.

“We were having a great Dubai camp and then the injury happened in an unexpected way and it’s a big blow because of the injuries we have,” Arteta said on Friday.

“We’ve had players who are injured who’ve played 130 games in the last two seasons so it’s an accident waiting to happen when you continue to load, load and load.

“The intensity is at a different level and the demands in terms of minutes in this competitive environment is getting higher and higher and it’s a consequence of that. The amount of muscle and tendon injuries is higher than ever so there’s a relationship.

“We’re very limited and we’re training less than ever. There’s no time for training.

“The biggest problem is that you don’t train the muscle, the muscle is undertrained and then you expose the muscle and the tendon to an exposure that it can’t absorb because the tendon has 72 hours to recover.”

Arsenal will have to look to the likes of Raheem Sterling, Ethan Nwaneri and Leandro Trossard to deputise for their absent team-mates in attack as the Gunners seek to keep their Premier League title hopes alive.

Despite his preferred forward line being unavailable, Arteta insists he has quality options at his disposal – including 17-year-old Nwaneri, who the Spaniard says can play a number of positions.

“It’s a question of when. He has the right qualities, to play out wide or centrally. We must adapt to the strengths of our players,” Arteta said of the teenager.

“We’re going to have to adapt and it brings another opportunity. We have unpredictable players in one-vs-ones, who are creative and sharp and it will cause headaches to the opposition.”

After league leaders Liverpool conceded a last-minute James Tarkowski equaliser in Wednesday’s Merseyside derby against Everton,  second-placed Arsenal sit seven points off the summit.

Former Toffees midfielder Arteta believes the next block of fixtures will be decisive as to how the table shapes up come the end of the season.

“When the gap becomes shorter when it’s not expected then it’s really positive and it can generate momentum,” he said.

“The next few weeks is critical, we need to see where we are after the international break in six or seven weeks.”