Mikel Arteta said Arsenal are ‘looking into’ their warm-up routines after sustaining four separate injuries this season in the minutes before kick-off – which he claims is more than he’s had in six years.
William Saliba had to come off five minutes into the Gunners’ 1-0 defeat by Liverpool in August after twisting his ankle in the warm-up, while Riccardo Calafiori sustained injuries before fixtures against Brighton and Wigan.
In between that period, Bukayo Saka picked up a niggle ahead of last month’s 4-0 victory over Leeds.
It’s left Arteta keen to rectify the issue.
When asked about whether Arsenal will review their warm-up strategies, he said: ‘Yeah, big time. They were very different (injuries).
‘The first one was with Willy (Saliba) when he rolled his ankle against Liverpool. Then we had two incidents with Richy (Calafiori) in the warm-up in a really similar way.
Arsenal will ‘look into’ their pre-match warm-ups after a spate of player injuries during them
Bukayo Saka picked up a niggle ahead of last month’s game at Leeds, and there have been four occasions this season when a Gunners star has suffered a problem in the warm-up
‘And the other one was with Bukayo (Saka), after he was rested on midweek and didn’t play against Kairat, then against Leeds.
‘It’s very unusual. It probably happened once or twice, I think, in six years that I’ve been here and it’s happened four times (this season).
‘So, obviously, we are looking into it. On the Willy one, it’s very difficult to see.
‘Sometimes, as well, you want to try and test a player before (a game) to make sure that he’s ready in the warm-up.
‘And Bukayo is very random because he never gave any symptoms or signals away that this could happen in the warm-up. That’s what it is. We have to learn.’
He later joked: ‘It’s a really good area to have a look at what will happen if we don’t do the warm-up because then at half-time, we go at half-time, and we sit almost for 15 minutes, and then we go full gas again in the second half!
‘So, yeah, maybe something to think about.’
