Mikel Arteta battles injury crisis amid Arsenal’s crammed January schedule

Gunners must negotiate nine matches this month but manager says squad is one of the ‘thinnest’ in the top flight

It was at this stage of last season that Arsenal took the opportunity to decamp to Dubai for a week of warm-weather training and the results were spectacular, even if still not enough to beat Manchester City to the title. After ending 2023 with consecutive defeats against West Ham and Fulham, Mikel Arteta’s side dropped only five points in the remaining 18 Premier League matches and secured eight straight wins at the start of the year, scoring 33 goals.

Twelve months on, Arsenal know that after starting 2025 with a convincing victory at Brentford, they will need to be almost perfect again to stand a chance of overhauling Liverpool, who lead by six points with a game in hand. With a demanding schedule of nine matches in January and injuries mounting, this time Arteta does not have the luxury of a mid-season break to reset his squad for the challenges ahead.

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