‘We don't train’ - Arteta dismisses claim that he overtrains his players, leading to the club's injury crisis

While the Gunners recently welcomed back attackers Viktor Gyokeres and Noni Madueke, their squad has been hit by a fresh wave of absences. 

The North London side faced a dramatic 2-1 Premier League loss to Aston Villa on Saturday without first-choice central defenders William Saliba and Gabriel, while Cristhian Mosquera and Kai Havertz have also been unavailable.

The situation worsened ahead of their European trip to face Club Bruges on Tuesday, with Leandro Trossard (knock), Max Dowman (ankle) and Declan Rice not travelling with the team. 

When questioned about whether his players were being overworked, Arteta was firm in his denial, as reported by Daily Mail.

"No, because we don't train," he stated. "I mean, today we've done 20 minutes, so surely it's not because we overtrained the players."

He elaborated on the knock-on effect of a depleted squad: "Obviously, the fact that you are missing players, you are loading other players more. 

“There’s a consequence to that and it's a really dangerous circle. In terms of what happened in the past, we are not having more injuries."

Arteta also urged a distinction between different types of injuries. "Some of the players have played over 150 games in two seasons, so it starts to get overloaded and you start to ask them again and again and again to do that. At some point, they will break down," he explained.

"But yeah, it's something that we are constantly looking at," he continued. "We are on it and I'm really happy with what we're doing in terms of the medical stuff and everything that we are trying to bring together."

This brings Arsenal's injury count to 95 since the beginning of last season, a figure surpassed only by Brighton's 97 in the Premier League.