Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has sounded the alarm over player workload, saying his team’s injury crisis is “a consequence” of increasing demands on footballers.
Arteta said he was training his squad “less than ever” in a bid to balance a schedule that can require European football’s top stars to play 60-70 games a season.
His comments come as Arsenal face up to the rest of the season without a recognised striker, having seen Kai Havertz join Gabriel Jesus on the long-term injury list this week.
“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,” Arteta said.
“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.”
Havertz, Arsenal’s leading scorer this season, has been ruled out until next term after suffering a hamstring injury that requires surgery during a team training camp in Dubai.
The Gunners were already without star man Bukayo Saka and fellow winger Gabriel Martinelli due to hamstring injuries which threaten to derail their Premier League title challenge.
Havertz has played 103 times for Arsenal and Germany since the start of last season, during which time Saka has played 86 games and Martinelli 89.
Arteta’s remarks add to previous warnings about player workload from Premier League players and global footballers’ union Fifpro.
Earlier this season Manchester City captain Rodri said that stars could strike unless action was taken to lighten their schedule. Days later he suffered a season-ending knee injury.
Fifpro, backed by domestic competitions including the Premier League, is suing Fifa for adding matches to the calendar without sufficient consultation.