Arsenal are bracing for a potential injury crisis as they prepare to defend their Premier League title — an achievement the club has never attempted before — when the new season opens in August.

The Gunners completed a punishing 2025/26 campaign in which they played 63 games across four competitions, reaching two finals and the FA Cup quarter-finals. Throughout that run, a succession of injury setbacks stripped the squad bare, and those problems may not have been left behind.

A season of surgery and absentees

The 2024/25 season was particularly brutal. Around half a dozen players required surgery, among them Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka, and Gabriel Jesus. Mikel Arteta responded by bringing in eight new players last summer to cope with the demands of competing on four fronts.

The reinforcements proved decisive — Arsenal held on to win the league — yet Arteta still navigated long stretches without Martin Odegaard, Havertz, Jurrien Timber, Ben White, Riccardo Calafiori, and Mikel Merino. Eberechi Eze, William Saliba, Gabriel, and Piero Hincapie were also sidelined at critical moments.

World Cup 2026 adds to the pressure

With 16 Arsenal players initially called up to FIFA World Cup 2026, rest has been scarce. Timber was ruled out of the Netherlands' campaign before it began with the groin injury that had sidelined him from March. Saka and Declan Rice, both called up for England, have confirmed they were managing injuries throughout the second half of the season — and neither may have sufficient time to recover fully before August.

Saliba has been a doubt throughout the tournament with a back problem, with France resting the centre-back in at least one fixture. Hincapie is set to play a fifth game of the tournament against Mexico after being cleared following a knock picked up against Germany with Ecuador. Meanwhile, Odegaard and Havertz have both returned to fitness in North America after runs of inconsistent minutes through injury, and White's stint in the first team ended with a knee injury that ruled him out of the World Cup entirely.

The toll of three relentless seasons

Arsenal have played 52, 58, and 63 games in 2023/24, 2024/25, and 2025/26 respectively — a workload managed with less rotation and less squad turnover than many rivals. The cumulative strain has been visible: White played through significant pain to cover for Timber, who missed most of 2023/24 with an ACL tear, while Saka set a club record of 83 consecutive appearances before Noni Madueke arrived as his backup.

In February 2025, Arteta described Havertz as a