Head of Medical and Sports Science Stijn Vandenbroucke issues his latest update - in association with Spire Roding Hospital...
Hello everyone,
There is not much to say this week, thankfully, as we didn't pick up any new injuries against Crystal Palace and we are happy that the red card shown to Cheikhou Kouyate has been rescinded.
We have only two players returning from injuries and both of them, Sam Byram and James Collins, will return to training with the squad on tomorrow or Friday.
We are in a very good position, both in terms of our position in the Barclays Premier League table and the number of injuries we have at present.
At this time of the season, with six vital weeks and so many important games coming up in the league and Emirates FA Cup, the medical department are working hard to ensure as many players are available to the manager as possible.
We have a potential five games in 15 days, should we progress to the FA Cup semi-finals. We will need everybody over the next few weeks during what is going to be a busy period.
With so many games scheduled, our responsibility is to keep the players as fresh as possible by recovering them between fixtures.
At this stage of the season it is a case of maximising freshness and minimising fatigue.
Stijn Vandenbroucke
Head of Medical and Sports Science