Arsène Wenger says that the rotation of players between competitions has helped us manage the players’ training loads and reduce our injuries this season.
Aside from Santi Cazorla we have no long-term absentees and, aside from a handful of knocks after a busy festive period, it has been a trouble-free campaign on the medical front.
The manager has been able to rest his Premier League XI in the Europa League and early rounds of the Carabao Cup, and that’s helped certain players to recover while giving others enough games to stay match-fit.
“First of all, we rotated more in the Europa League and was able to rest more players,” Wenger told Arsenal.com. “Afterwards, you always improve by learning from the seasons before, you learn more about the general concept of our training intensity.
“We also learn more about the individuals. We have a deeper analysis of what happened with the player last year, whether he got injured, how many games he played in three weeks and after he got injured. From the player’s injury history, you learn when to rest him and when to play him.
“It’s about adapting the training loads to the history of the individuals. It’s also about strengthening where they’ve had weak moments in their history.
“When you play every three days, you weaken your players. When you rest them - and sometimes during the week when they do not play - you can work them to strengthen their physical condition. After that, they’re a bit less vulnerable.”
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