Tuesday 23 December 2014 16:33, UK
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has defended the club's injury record this season, insisting his team have paid the price for having players at the World Cup and the qualifying stages of the Champions League.
Arsenal are sixth in the Premier League table and have seen a succession of players out with injuries this season, with Mesut Ozil, Mikael Arteta, Jack Wilshere, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud among the first-team regulars to spend significant periods on the sidelines.
Kieran Gibbs, Mathieu Debuchy, Theo Walcott, Thomas Rosicky and Aaron Ramsey have also been out with injuries, and chief executive Ivan Gazidis admitted the situation had been "frustrating for everyone".
A report in the Daily Telegraph suggests Arsenal have had 25 injuries this season, the most in the Premier League, with 14 of those classified as muscular injuries.
I cannot deny that we've had more injuries than planned
But Wenger, who appointed Shad Forsythe as the club's head of athletic performance in the summer, said the problems were not down to issues with his team's preparations or conditioning.
"We have to consider every injury individually. Most of the injuries we've had are joint problems and accidental problems and there are post-World Cup traumatic injuries," said Wenger, ahead of the Boxing Day clash with QPR.
"The only muscular problems we have had consistently this year are Arteta and Ramsey. Ramsey is quite surprising because he's young and has good stamina and we haven't really found out why.
"Let's not forget, we've played eight Champions League games since the start of the season and when your bodies are not really prepared and you go Wednesday night to Besiktas and Saturday to Sunderland, it's demanding.
"Is that the only explanation? I don't know but I cannot deny that we've had more injuries than planned."
Wenger said Koscielny, Ramsey, Walcott and Ozil were all closing in on a return over the Christmas period or early in January, while Arteta had suffered a setback in his recovery from a calf injury.
Koscielny, who has also had a calf problem, has an outside chance of facing West Ham on Sunday, while Ramsey has been pencilled in to return against Southampton on New Year's Day.
Ozil has been out for nearly three months out after suffering ligament damage to his left knee in Arsenal's 2-0 defeat by Chelsea on October 5, but the injury was not picked up until he away with Germany several days later.
I think 2015 can be very exciting if we manage to get our injured players back and have a good run.
Walcott suffered a serious knee injury in January, missing 10 months before returning to action off the bench in early November only to sustain a groin problem which has kept him out since November 9.
"He has been missed because first of all he is a top-quality player, a team player and when he got injured he was in fantastic form so of course he is a big miss for us," said Wenger.
"I believe that with the injuries coming back we will have a much stronger squad than we had for the past two months. I think 2015 can be very exciting if we manage to get our injured players back and have a good run.
"Finishing in the top four is always the minimum required here. We have the Champions League and we have the FA Cup and we want to come back in a much stronger position in the Premier League, and I think we will.
"Our Christmas is not an easy schedule. There are three games in a very short period of time and we can make up points. It's a period where you have an opportunity to make points. Our opponents will think that as well, but let's just put the performances in and capitalise on it."
