Arsenal are facing over a month with just three forward players available at the most crucial of stages in the season.
Arsenal travel to Leicester to resume their hunt for a Premier League title after a mid-season break to Dubai.
The trip didn’t exactly go to plan with firstly, Gabriel Martinelli being ruled out for over a month and then the shocking news that Kai Havertz requires surgery on a hamstring tear.
Mikel Arteta is now down to unprecedented options in attack and it is not the first time in his managerial career at the Emirates Stadium that he has been left decimated in one area at such a vital stage in a campaign.
Mikel Arteta suffering similar Arsenal injury crisis to the end of 2022-23 season
It is easy to forget how far Arteta has taken Arsenal since he took over from Unai Emery, the Gunners were not a team that were consistently challenging for honours.
In 2022-23 season, after a shaky start Arsenal were vying with North London rivals to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2017.
Arsenal went into a North London Derby at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium four points clear of their rivals with just three games to go but suffered a major injury crisis, this time in their defence.
Kieran Tierney was ruled out for the season, Ben White had suffered a hamstring scare and Takehiro Tomiyasu was not match fit as the Gunners went into the biggest game of their season.
Added to that, Gabriel Magalhaes came off injured in the second half to leave the Gunners with just Rob Holding as their only recognised central defender.
Arsenal lost the match 3-0 and a patched up defence then suffered a 2-0 defeat at St James’s Park just days later to surrender the final Champions League spot to Spurs.
Arsenal are not learning from past mistakes by utilising squad rotation
Arteta’s side should have qualified for the Champions League that season and could have been another year further forward in their current ‘project.
In the 2022-23 season, Arteta tried to stick with the same back four every week and eventually the workload told on the players and injuries were picked up at the most crucial of stages.
History has repeated itself and this time it is the forwards who have been overworked this season, Havertz and Bukayo Saka were not rotated and subsequently have picked up major muscular injuries.
The Kroenkes should also apologise to Havertz for failing to provide Arteta with any other options during the January transfer window but Arsenal’s incompetence in the market and their lack of squad rotation could ultimately cost them yet again from achieving their goals.
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