Arsenal’s injury misfortunes

Every Premier League club has to deal with injuries. As soon as the whistle is blown you are participating in a physical activity that could be potentially damaging to your body, a fact that managers know only too well. More than any manager in the Premier League, Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger has unfortunately been witness to the most serious of footballing injuries – the broken leg – on 3 separate occasions in the last 5 years.

Obviously there are steps that can be taken to avoid these injuries, with supplements such as multivitamins or glucosamine that can be taken to improve bone strength, but unfortunately there is no way to prepare for that one bad tackle that can end your season in an instant. In the case of Arsenal’s horrific run of broken limbs, no amount of preparation or planning could have avoided these injuries to some of the Premier Leagues brightest young stars.

Abou Diaby – 2006

The series of unfortunate breaks began in May 2006, when Abou Diaby, having only signed for the North London club a matter of months prior, picked up a serious ankle fracture after a tackle from Sunderland midfielder Dan Smith. Sunderland’s manager at the time supported his player with the following quote "Dan went for the ball, unfortunately Diaby was quicker than him” a phrase that would prove to become a popular one in the defence of misjudged tackles on Arsenal players in years to come.

Eduardo Da Silva – 2008

The second of Arsenal’s unfortunate series of leg breaks happened way back in 2008 at St Andrews, in a Premier League match between Arsenal and Birmingham. The guilty party in this injury was Birmingham’s Martin Taylor, who Arsene Wenger went on to comment on by saying that Taylor should ‘never play football again’ – a statement he later retracted. Almost exactly a year after the injury Eduardo returned to play for Arsenal in the FA cup, scoring twice.

Aaron Ramsey – 2010

The most recent and perhaps saddest of the trio of breaks, was welsh starlet Aaron Ramsey’s sickening leg break at the hands of Stoke’s Ryan Shawcross. An injury that Aaron has only recently returned to first team action from, was especially difficult for manager, fans and players to accept as it happened to such a young player (Ramsey was 19 at the time of injury) who was starting to show real promise and beginning to break into the Gunner first team.