Arteta responds to claims Arsenal players are tired
· Yahoo Sports
Mikel Arteta has pushed back against the idea that fatigue explains Arsenal’s defeat, insisting the schedule is part of the challenge rather than a shield from criticism.
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Mikel Arteta has rejected tiredness as an excuse for Arsenal’s defeat to Bournemouth, insisting his side must embrace the demands of a packed schedule rather than hide behind it.
The result prompted familiar questions about fatigue after another flat display, particularly with Arsenal having played so often in recent weeks and with several senior players still unavailable.
But Arteta made clear afterwards that he was not interested in framing the performance that way, even if the calendar remains relentless.
Asked whether there was tiredness in the team, he said: “I don’t want to pull those excuses because we’ve been playing so many games every three days, we’re going to have to continue to do that, so that’s the context, that’s the scenario.
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“We have to embrace it and especially enjoy the opportunity.
“That’s one of the things that I haven’t seen from the team today, that level of enjoyment in certain moments and the fight that we have to have to really change the course of the game when it gets difficult.
“We’re going to have different contexts from here to June, and we need to be able to adapt and resolve all of them, if we want to achieve what we want to achieve, that’s clear.”
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There was no positivity on the injury front either.
Asked for updates on Riccardo Calafiori, Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka, Arteta replied: “No, and on Martin [Odegaard] as well, no. Bukayo Saka, too. We don’t have an update yet.”
That leaves Arsenal waiting again on three important players (not even mentioning Jurrien Timber and Mikel Merino) at a point in the season when the margin for error is all but gone.