Arsenal’s struggle with injuries has become a bit of a running joke in the Premier League.
The Gunners are currently without the services of Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud, Per Mertesacker, Chuba Akpom and Danny Welbeck due to injury.
Welbeck has had a torrid time staying fit after requiring knee surgery during the summer that is expected to keep him sidelined for another three months. The England striker only made 11 league appearances for the North London side last season, four of which came as a substitute.
Also, Ramsey has not played since the opening day of the season because of a hamstring problem and Wenger has since admitted that the Welshman has fallen into a “vicious circle” of injuries.
In a bid to deal with their injury hoodoo, Arsenal installed an ‘AirFibr’ pitch at London Colney in April.
Paris-based firm Natural Grass make the pitch and they claim the all-weather resistant turf can reduce the risk of players picking up knocks by up to 40%. How they landed on that figure is anyone’s guess, but this claim has been verified by Prof. P. Rouch from the Arts & Metiers ParisTech biomechanics Laboratory.
Arsenal had been testing the hybrid grass technology on their goalkeeper area for nearly two years before opting to resurface their 58-hectare HQ with the turf.
The Gunners are the first Premier League club to introduce the technology, but West Ham have also recently made the switch as well. Real Madrid and Lyon also installed the pitch at their respective training grounds.
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