It must be something in their drinking water, as the Gunners squad seemed to be one of the most prone to injuries during last season, and again in the current pre-season warm-ups.
Manager Arsene Wenger has now confirmed striker Nicklas Bendtner to be an absentee to Arsenal’s season kick-off courtesy of a groin injury.
22 year old Bendtner had been with his national side in the WC finals in South Africa, and he picked up his injury just as soon as he was back at the Emirates Stadium, an injury initially described by Wenger as ‘not serious’.
Now Wenger will admit it was not the case as he is not quite sure of the extent of his player’s problem, and will concede Arsenal will have to start the season without Bendtner.
“Bendtner will not be available for the start of the season,” Wenger said talking to Arsenal’s official website. “We don’t know [how bad it is].”
Wenger also has many ‘doubts’ over the fitness of a number of his players, including Denilson, Abou Diaby, van Persie and -the pivot of all football talk these days- Cesc Fabregas.
“Denilson should be [fit] – maybe not for the Emirates Cup [this weekend] but for the Warsaw game [on August 7] and Diaby as well.
“Fabregas and Van Persie are due to come back on August 5 and from then on we will see how much build-up work is needed physically and as well how they have recovered mentally from the World Cup.
“They might be short for the first game [of the season] but I don’t know, that will depend on the fitness work they have done during the holiday.” Wenger concluded.