Mikel Arteta Responds to Gary Neville’s Concerns Over Arsenal’s Injury Troubles
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has responded to Gary Neville’s concerns over three of his players ahead of Saturday’s trip to Chelsea. The Gunners travel across London to face the Blues at Stamford Bridge, looking to continue their unbeaten start and strengthen their title credentials.
While Neville backs Arsenal to lift the Premier League trophy this term, he has argued that potential injuries to central defenders Gabriel Magalhaes and William Saliba as well as £105m summer signing Declan Rice could derail their chances.
Neville’s comments came after Saliba claimed that Arsenal would have won the Premier League last season had he not suffered an injury in the title run-in.
Arteta’s Response
Arteta has now responded to Neville’s remarks as he told Sky Sports: ‘Obviously, when you lose big players, it is more difficult. From last year, we know that. In crucial moments, we lost some big players, and things get harder because the squad is thinner. Hopefully we have learned [from it]. We have improved the squad and we now have more resources to manage these things.’
Preventing Key Players from Burning Out
Meanwhile, Arteta was asked in a press conference on Friday how he will prevent key players ‘burning out’ this season amid fears of exhaustion and injuries.
‘It is our responsibility to monitor them, but as well it is also in relation to the days off that they get,’ Arteta said. ‘The way we train you cannot take certain parts of training out, so it’s not only about the minutes when they are on the field. Sometimes we want to rest them but we ask them to be out on the [training] field for three hours which does them a big favour. There is some balance there but in the end, when you want to be a top, top player you have to be able to play every three days and play 65 to 70 games. It is what it is.’
Conclusion
Arsenal have made a strong start to the season and are currently second in the Premier League table. However, with injuries and fatigue a major concern for Mikel Arteta, he will need to ensure his squad is managed carefully if they are to remain in contention for the title come May.