Even after losing against Swansea City on Monday, they lead Chelsea, United and Leicester City in the Premier League form table. The feeling at Arsenal is that, while part of the improvement on injuries can be explained simply by a lighter fixture schedule and good fortune (Olivier Giroud, Jack Wilshire and Debuchy suffered fairly freakish impact injuries), the benefits of subtle changes are also being felt. The sports science department at Arsenal has grown significantly at every level and the advice to Wenger on further tailoring individual programmes has been increasingly heeded. There had been a definite suspicion that Wenger and his senior staff tended to push through with short but intense training sessions at periods earlier in the season and in previous years when some players would simply have benefited from rest. It has not been a new problem.