Such has been Arsenal's injury problems this season, despite a major overhaul in the fitness regime at the club, that even Arsene Wenger is finding it difficult to explain why his players are falling left, right and centre.
Saturday evening witnessed three Arsenal players – all midfielders – suffer injuries, with Mikel Arteta, first, going down with a calf injury which forced him out of the game, before Aaron Ramsey, most worryingly, came off holding his hamstring.
Jack Wilshere was also taken off late in the game against Tottenham with an ankle knock, but, that, at least, was an impact injury.
The worry remains the muscle injuries which keep hampering Arsenal. Ramsey missed several months of last season with a similar injury, and even if Wenger said the talismanic Welshman would only be out for four weeks – not so bad considering there is an international break in between – worries over the inability to prevent such injuries remain.
"We are getting things together, getting a report on all the different opinions -- what happened to him [Ramsey], because it's a real concern," Wenger said.
The Arsenal manager is concerned because Ramsey was given a break from midweek action in the Capital One Cup against Southampton, and the midfielder was only given fairly light training sessions throughout the week.
Maybe the problem lies in the fact that the Arsenal players are just not put through enough of a rigorous training session through the week; at least, not enough to cope without injuries in the physical cannot-pause-for- breath English Premier League.
"We made a lot of changes, yes," said Wenger, pointing to the fact that he has roped in fitness guru Shad Forsythe over the summer. "We have made changes in the way we prepare, in the way we work on prevention for injuries.
"When you work on the prevention for injuries, it's a question mark: 'Why do you get the injuries?' We know a lot more than 18 years ago when I arrived but still not enough to predict 100 percent scientifically what happens to everybody."
Even the Emirates pitch, as smooth as a snooker table and one of the best in the Premier League, if not in Europe, has been questioned.
"Could be, you don't rule anything out," Wenger admitted when asked if the pitch was the reason for Arsenal's injury woes.
"Look, even if we look at it [the pitch], you have to play on it until the end of the season. There is no choice," he added on a lighter vein.
Wenger marks his 18th year anniversary of his appointment as manager on Wednesday when Arsenal play Galatasaray in the Champions League.
However, with nine players on the injury list – Abou Diaby has returned to that list, yet again, alongside Ramsey, Arteta, Theo Walcott, Serge Gnabry, Olivier Giroud, Yaya Sanogo, Mathieu Debuchy and Nacho Monreal – and Wilshere walking wounded, Wenger will hope and pray that no more players hit the injury bug in the crucial Champions League game against Galatasaray.
