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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended his handling of the squad after media questions about underusing players like Fabio Vieira, Thomas Partey, and Emile Smith Rowe.
The Gunners are currently on a two-game skid, losing back-to-back important games against Aston Villa and Bayern Munich. Arteta has remained consistent with his team selection, with players like Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Kai Havertz being a regular presence in the first XI.
Vieira, meanwhile, has found it hard to get into the team despite a promising start to the season. He has barely played since returning from a groin injury in February. Smith Rowe has found chances few and far between to come by. Partey was also not used in the second leg against Bayern Munich.
The consensus is that Arsenal looked tired in their last two matches. Hence, questions have been raised about Arteta's squad management. The Spaniard, however, hit back at those claims, saying (via Metro):
"It is a possibility, that question is always going to come when you lose a game. When we defeated Brighton and we had an unbelievable week, everyone was talking about us winning the league, nobody asked this question."
As a result of their defeat to Bayern (3-2 on aggregate), the Gunners were eliminated from the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Last weekend's Premier League home defeat against Aston Villa also saw Mikel Arteta's side lose the first spot in the table.
They are now second with 71 points from 32 matches, two points behind league leaders Manchester City. Arsenal will play Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Molineux on Saturday, April 20.
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta criticizes Premier English football's hectic schedule
Mikel Arteta thinks that English football's hectic schedule had a role to play in his team's elimination from the UEFA Champions League. He pointed out that teams like Bayern get more rest ahead of crucial Champions League matches.
Arteta also claimed that the EPL not giving their players such recovery time is playing a role in the teams getting knocked out in the crucial stages of the European competitions. He said (via Metro):
"We are not doing that and we're putting more and more pressure on ourselves. But this is what we have, there are no excuses, this is reality."
All English teams have now been knocked out of the Champions League. Apart from Arsenal, Manchester City were also beaten on penalties by Real Madrid in the quarterfinals.
