Cesc Fabregas admits he is still playing through an ‘annoying’ hamstring problem and fears it may be his body’s reaction to sheer volume of games.
Fabregas is only 23 but has already played 324 times at the top level for club and country and Arsenal’s medical team are closely monitoring the injury, which has plagued the club captain for almost a year.
‘The good news is there’s no tear there on the hamstring, nothing,’ said Fabregas.
‘It’s just a little bit of fluid but it keeps coming back.
‘It’s outside the muscle, the “skin” of the muscle. It’s not really a muscle injury, it’s fluid that keeps coming back and it’s very annoying.
‘We are working on it, looking at my hips because they are always very tight. We have to work on it but also understand I am 23 years old and I’ve played many, many games.
‘Soon I will play my 200th Premier League game, as well as nearly 60 for the national team and 60 in the Champions League. So that’s a lot of games for my age and I have to take care of myself.’
Fabregas played his 194th game in the Barclays Premier League in Sunday’s defeat at home to Newcastle and has 57 caps for Spain.
Since helping his country win the World Cup in South Africa against the backdrop of a desire to return to his native Barcelona, he has rarely been at his best this season.
Arsene Wenger thought his captain was ‘restricted’ against Newcastle and Fabregas confessed to “struggling” through his previous game, against West Ham when he required a strapping to get through the second half.
Despite this, he is expected to declare himself fit for Wednesday’s game at Wolves, where Arsenal are trying to avoid a third successive defeat.