Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil, Abou Diaby: Which players are in the Arsenal injury XI?

Diaby damaged: A rare appearance in an Arsenal shirt for the midfielder
James Benge9 September 2015

It’s one of the hardest teams to get into, but one Reddit user has crunched the sums and calculated which Arsenal players have missed the most football through injuries.

Arsene Wenger’s side have developed something of a reputation for their fragility in recent years, with several promising seasons derailed by injuries to important players at exactly the wrong time.

This was particularly the case in 2013/14, when injuries to Aaron Ramsey, Mesut Ozil and Theo Walcott saw Arsenal slip from table-toppers to their customary scramble for Champions League places.

Unsurprisingly the latter of the trio, now the club’s longest serving first-teamer, makes the list of Arsenal’s most injured XI of the 21st century with nearly three years out whilst playing for Wenger.

If that sounds like quite the injury track-record it pales into insignificance when compared with the player whose name is always associated with Arsenal’s injury crises: Abou Diaby. The French midfielder spent five years and 331 days on the sidelines, according to Physioroom data compiled by John Lawless for Sky Sports. Diaby has since departed for Marseille after Arsenal released him at the end of his contract.

He shares a place in Wenger’s sicknote midfield with Tomas Rosicky – Wenger’s second most injured player since 2000 – and Jack Wilshere. At just 23 years of age the England international has already spent nearly 900 days on the sidelines. He is currently absent after a tenth ankle injury of his Arsenal career.

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The injury XI includes many of the best players to have played under Wenger, including star striker Robin van Persie, Freddie Ljungberg and Bacary Sagna.

The presence of Johan Djourou and Philippe Senderos perhaps explains why two young Swiss defenders who were highly rated by their club never found the first team opportunities they craved.

How Arsenal's players fared on international duty

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Wenger’s injury woes have shown no signs of abating this season. Just four league games into the campaign the manager has already had to plan around injury absences for Mesut Ozil, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Hector Bellerin, Danny Welbeck and Wilshere.

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