There’s a maxim from the boot room era, coined by a famous former manager who would cast his eye across his squad at the start of a season and confide to his staff, ‘We’ll be fine as long as the right ones get injured’.
Injuries are inevitable in other words, but some players are indispensable.
Its relevance survives. Remove Rodri and Erling Haaland and Manchester City are not the same team. Remove Mo Salah and Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool would not be either.
All managers quietly dread losing certain individuals and at Arsenal this season they will tell you wrong ones got injured.