Arteta Blasts EPL Over Fixture Congestion After New Injury Blow
Arsenal coach Mikel Arteta has criticised the Premier League’s fixtures after losing Declan Rice, and Cristhian Mosquera to injuries on Wednesday.
The Gunners earned a 2-0 win over Brentford to go five points clear but it came at a cost after two of their key players went off injured in the encounter.
Mosquera limped off just minutes before halftime with what Arteta said was either a knee or ankle issue, while England international Rice was substituted in the 83rd minute because of a calf problem.
The Premier League leaders are already without first-choice centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes, as well as forwards Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard.
Arteta slammed the League’s fixtures schedule while demanding for more days between games to allow the players to rest.
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He said: “Now we play Wednesday night and we have to play Saturday morning as well. So we can play for a minute, but if they can please give us just a little bit more time to recover and to make the well-being of these players a little bit easier, that would be great.
“Give us another day, especially the teams that are playing so much in Europe. To everybody in general, I think we can do that because we’re going to benefit from that.
“We’ve never had such a schedule at every level, not only in the Premier League, but every competition internationally as well. So we need to try to do that, please.
“It’s not an argument, I think it’s common sense. I think it’s not at some point this becomes too much, you know, and the players are not machines. But we have to try to do that when we can.”
The Gunners manager also provided an update on the Declan Rice, and Cristhian Mosquera injuries.
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Arteta said: “Obviously it’s never good news. Declan had to come off. We have to see what he’s got.
“Mosquera is the other one that is out. Obviously we have big Gabi (Gabriel) and Willy (Saliba) out as well. So we have to adapt. It’s been the theme of this season.
“(Rice) could not carry on playing, so we have to wait and see what happens. He can walk but he cannot play.”
Mikel Merino, and Bukayo Saka scored the goals that propelled Arsenal to a 2-0 victory in the encounter.
The Gunners will be hoping to continue their unbeaten run against Aston Villa at the Villa Park on Saturday.
