Why Lemerre is right about Pires

Roger Lemerre was correct when he said French players in England have the most gruelling schedule of all his top players in Europe.

Lemerre, fuming over the knee ligament injury to Robert Pires which may have ruled him out of the World Cup, said: "We know that the players who are playing loads of games during the season become very fragile and we think that Pires's injury is due to the accumulation of games.

"Pires and Thierry Henry are the two who have played the most this season. They have played around 45 or 47 games. After a certain limit, it becomes very dangerous. The competition and pressures are very high and it has serious consequences on their health."

Pires was today heading for Geneva to get a third opinion on his injury as reports mount of differences between Lemerre and Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger about how Pires should be treated. Arsenal want him to have an operation quickly but Lemerre is hoping to find any way to keep him available for the World Cup.

Lemerre is right about the demands on Pires and our table (below) shows that both Arsenal players have played more than their counterparts Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), David Trezeguet (Juventus), and Bixente Lizarazu (Bayern Munich) in the Spanish, Italian and German leagues.

Pires and Henry have played 40-plus games despite not being in Worthington Cup squads. Here's an appearance table from this season:

How the French believe Arsenal have run their star pairing into the ground

Robert Pires
Total games: 49
Age: 29
France games: 3
Arsenal games: 46

Thierry Henry
Total games: 43
Age: 24
France games: 3
Arsenal games: 40

David Trezeguet
Total games: 41
Age: 24
France games: 3
Juventus games: 38

Zinedine Zidane
Total games: 37
Age: 29
France games: 4
Real Madrid games: 33

Bixente Lizarazu
Total games: 33
Age: 32
France games: 2
Bayern Munich games: 31