I think Henry said that he basically played injured for two years; Freddie has said the same. During most of 2002 he played on shots and couldn't train properly.
That's not a great working environment in itself and probably shouldn't be celebrated, but it is what it is. I think it's very common and not something that is isolated to Rice and Saka. I don't think it's something that changes with a big squad either: you field your best players if you can. We went unbeaten precisely because we didn't rest Henry in every other game, and would have won zilch without him back then: he only missed 4 league games in as many years during our successful period. There was a cost in the form of fewer twilight years though.
What has changed this year is that we have a better squad across the board. Look at how Mosquera and Hincapie have come in and replaced seasoned starters. Look at how Gyökeres has amassed the 6th most minutes in the squad while Havertz and Merino have spent huge chunks of the season injured. People wondered what we needed Eze for, only for him to contribute with 14 G+A in Odegaard's absence.
In fact, a lot of the new signings we made last summer have carried us through the rough patches, and that's a sign of finally having a sporting director who's wearing bossy pants:
