Arsenal seem to be running out of steam at a crucial point of the season. Are they paying the price for not rotating enough earlier in the campaign?
It’s not supposed to be easy to win anything in football, let alone a first Premier League title for 22 years alongside a maiden European Cup. But right now, Arsenal are making it look very difficult indeed.
They’ve hit a sticky patch at the worst time. Just one win in their last five matches, a gritty 1-0 victory away to Sporting CP in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, has been accompanied by some less-than-inspiring performances in the Premier League and domestic cups. Across that spell, they’ve been knocked out of two competitions and seen their lead at the top of the league cut to six points, with chasers Manchester City still holding a game in hand.
Something Mikel Arteta was very keen to stress in his post-match press conference after the second leg of the Champions League tie against Sporting was the physical demands placed on his players. Could fatigue be a factor in this downturn?
“That is the reason why we are the only English team in the competition,” he said. “Because this league and this schedule takes the hell out of you.”
On Declan Rice specifically, who has been one of Arsenal’s workhorses this season, Arteta admitted he really shouldn’t have played.
“Declan [on Tuesday] was shattered,” Arteta added. “He had no chance to play today, he wasn’t feeling good at all. Today, he played 94 minutes at the level that he’s on.”
In some respects, it’s a good thing his Arsenal players are tired. After all, playing more matches and minutes is usually a positive sign, reflecting progress in multiple competitions.
Table of Contents
Minutes and Match Load in the Premier League
Arsenal (54) have played more matches this season than any other Premier League team. Managing those minutes, and individual player fatigue, is crucial in long campaigns battling on multiple fronts.
| Premier League Team | Matches Played (All Competitions) |
|---|---|
| Arsenal | 54 |
| Newcastle | 52 |
| Chelsea | 51 |
| Liverpool | 51 |
| Manchester City | 51 |
Rotation Patterns and Key Workloads
One main takeaway from Arsenal’s squad usage is how heavily certain players have been relied upon. David Raya has been basically ever-present in goal, while Gabriel Magalhães and William Saliba start whenever fit.
More concerning, though, is the burden on players in more physically demanding positions. At full-back and in central midfield, Jurriën Timber, Martín Zubimendi, and Declan Rice have played a huge number of minutes with very little rest. Timber is now one of the players Arsenal are missing through injury, and his absence has been keenly felt during their recent dip.
| Player | Role | Approx. Share of Available Minutes (All Competitions) |
|---|---|---|
| David Raya | Goalkeeper | 80% |
| Martín Zubimendi | Midfielder | 79% |
| Declan Rice | Midfielder | ~75% |
Zubimendi and Rice stand out. Between them, the pair have played the second-most and fourth-most minutes of any Premier League outfielders (excluding centre-backs) in all competitions this season. The reliance on them is clear, and perhaps helps explain why Arteta described Rice as “shattered.”
Given his workload, it is not a surprise that Rice’s pressures per game in the Premier League have generally trended downwards as the season has progressed. Zubimendi, in his first season in England, has looked jaded in recent weeks, too. His passing accuracy against Bournemouth last weekend was just 76%, his second lowest in any Premier League game this season.
Did Arsenal Miss Chances to Rotate Earlier?
That raises the question of whether Arteta could have managed this more effectively earlier in the season.
Take Christian Nørgaard, for example. Signed in the summer as a back-up midfielder, the Dane has played just 20% of all available minutes, and only 2% of available minutes in the Premier League. And a chunk of those have come as an emergency defender.
Arteta does not appear to trust him to provide cover for the likes of Rice or Zubimendi, which seems strange. If he is not seen as a viable option, why sign him? And if he’s arrived at the club without the required attributes to be immediately trusted with game time, it’s the manager’s job to coach those traits into him.
There have also been opportunities for Arteta to rotate in-game that he doesn’t seem to have taken. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Ben White have both regularly been in matchday squads but remained unused substitutes, even in matches where Arsenal were in control.
In the recent north London derby, for instance, Arsenal were 3-1 up and cruising, yet Arteta ended up using only four substitutions. Earlier in the season, comfortable wins in matches against Burnley and the first fixture against Spurs—where Arteta again only made four substitutions and all of them after going 4-1 up—also offered chances for rotation at full-back. Similarly, against Atlético in the league phase of the Champions League, Arteta waited until Arsenal were 4-0 up and 72 minutes had gone before making his first change.
Might the current injuries to Riccardo Calafiori and Timber have been avoided with slightly more rotation earlier in the campaign? It’s a hypothetical question and very difficult to answer definitively, but it is worth asking nonetheless.
This might also be a hidden cost of Arsenal’s style of play. They rarely blow teams away, and so rarely find themselves in positions commanding enough on the scoreline to have “won” games with plenty of time left. Arteta might want to rotate more but feels like he can’t. However, the evidence from the Spurs and Burnley games mentioned above suggests that isn’t the case.
A Title Race That Could Be Won the Hard Way
The sense of running out of steam is a familiar one for Arsenal. This season, though, was supposed to be different given how the squad has been built, with the depth to compete across multiple competitions.
And to be fair, maybe it has. Key players including Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Kai Havertz, Mikel Merino, and Timber have all missed significant time, yet Arsenal remain six points clear at the top of the Premier League and are into the Champions League semi-finals. They are in a great position. Had Merino and Ødegaard been more available, perhaps Arteta would have been able to rest Rice and Zubimendi more willingly.
It’s the trajectory that will concern supporters. With huge games still to come, there is little scope to rest key players now. Their next three matches are against Man City, Atlético Madrid, and Newcastle. Someone like Rice, if he is able to play, will continue to do so. There is no chance he’ll be rested.
Arteta will have to find a way to get just enough from his core group to get over the line. If Arsenal do go on to win the title, it is unlikely to come in a blaze of glory. More likely, it will be achieved in a gritty, piecemeal and hard-fought manner. That will be just fine for them.
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FAQs
Why is Arsenal being linked with a lack of rotation?
Recent fatigue and a dip in form have coincided with heavy minutes for key midfielders and full-backs in the Premier League and other competitions.
Which Arsenal players have played the most minutes?
David Raya has been near-ever-present, while Declan Rice and Martín Zubimendi have carried a major workload in midfield.
Could rotation have prevented injuries?
It’s hard to prove, but more managed minutes earlier could have reduced strain on players like Timber and others during a demanding season.
Why hasn’t Christian Nørgaard played more?
He has had limited minutes, suggesting he is not currently trusted as a regular cover option for Arsenal’s central midfield.
What does this mean for Arsenal’s Premier League title hopes?
Arsenal are still in a strong position, but with tough fixtures ahead, they will need to squeeze maximum output from their key players to hold onto their lead.
