Sunday May 7th at 4pm sees the kick-off of Arsenal vs Manchester United in the Premier League. The race for the top 4 could not be much closer and it is fair to say that every game left for both clubs is a must-win game.

In recent years it seemed as though Arsenal always suffered a disproportionate number of injuries with vast media coverage of the topic. Numerous articles have been written and many, many on-air minutes have been spent in discussion by an array of pundits as the Arsenal sick-bay has been given a great deal of coverage and viewed as a serious problem.

It has not seen much coverage this season and indeed it seems as though there have been less Arsenal injuries this year. It would be very interesting to compare the number of Arsenal player-hours lost due to injury over recent seasons but that is a subject for a future article.

Man United seem to have suffered more injuries than usual this year and they currently sit at the top of the injury charts according to the Physio Room.

So looking at the Arsenal injury list first:

Santi Cazorla is a long-term absentee who has been missing with an achilles injury he picked up playing in the Champions League vs Ludogorets back on October 19th. The midfielder has not played since despite having numerous treatments and trying virtually everything to improve the injury. Cazorla is hopefully going to be back firing for next season.

Lucas Perez was projected to be out of action until later in the coming week with his thigh muscle strain but the striker has a chance of making the bench for the Man United game today if the manager decides to use him.

Granit Xhaka has a calf injury which he sustained in the Spurs game and he too is not expected back until later this week. Apparently Xhaka is still a doubt and is unlikely to be pressed into service by Arsene Wenger to face United.

Arsenal have suffered a couple of very long-term injuries this campaign with both Danny Welbeck and Per Mertesacker missing over half of the season through serious knee injuries. Per Mertesacker of course has yet to make a single appearance for Arsenal in any competition despite being back in training for over a couple of months. It would seem that the German is unlikely to play at all this year as his injury is clearly still a major issue.

Former United player, Danny Welbeck on the other hand is fully fit and has featured in 14 games since his return in early January adding 3 goals. The England international has been used cautiously however with Arsene Wenger managing Welbeck’s playing time very carefully following his comeback after major knee surgery and a number of injuries in the past couple of years.

Taking a look at Manchester United’s injury list:

James Wilson is a long-term absentee with an ACL knee injury and he should be back in training early next season.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Marcos Rojo have both been in good form for United this season but both sustained the dreaded ACL knee injury vs Anderlecht 2 weeks ago and naturally neither will be playing until much later this calendar year.

Tim Fosu-Mensah is also gone for the season with a dislocated shoulder which will keep him out for a considerable time but he could be back for pre-season.

Ashley Young has a hamstring problem and is definitely not available for the Arsenal match.

Luke Shaw has a foot problem he picked up at the end of last month. Shaw is highly doubtful for today’s encounter at the Emirates so Jose Mourinho will probably be looking to Matteo Darmian and Daley Blind to fill-in at left-back.

Marcos Rashford is the man-of-the-moment and following his current hot form which has delivered 4 goals in his past 8 games, he has seemingly become the main striker for United after the injury to Ibrahimovic. Rashford was replaced as he picked up a knee strain in the win over Celta Vigo in the Europa League on Thursday. The young striker is now a major cog in the United engine and if he fails a late fitness test you would have to think Mourinho’s side will pose a much weaker threat. Although Anthony Martial could replace Rashford in the central position and also has electrifying pace, the Arsenal defence would likely be happy to see Rashford on the sidelines for this match.

The good news for United from the injury list is that centre-backs Chris Smalling and Phil Jones are both back in training and could possibly feature for United against Arsenal. Of course Juan Mata has also just got back into playing shape after groin surgery and offers United an attacking option but most likely only from the bench for now.

We will probably have to wait until near game-time to find out the status of the Rashford factor but for now Arsenal clearly have a big advantage over their rivals today when it comes to injuries. The Gunners will have a much stronger bench for certain and hopefully for Arsene Wenger they can use it to their advantage. If Rashford is unable to play it would undoubtedly be a bonus for Arsene Wenger but they will have prepared to face the pacey youngster along with his fellow youngsters in Jesse Lingard and Anthony Martial.

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