Mikel Arteta has supported his handling of Arsenal’s team after costly losses to Bayern Munich and Aston Villa.
The Gunners were surpassed in the Premier League after an unexpected home loss to Villa, and their hope for the Champions League was ended in the middle of the week with a 1-0 defeat at the Allianz Arena.
Arteta has relied on a central group of players this season, such as Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, and Declan Rice, along with defenders William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes who have been almost ever-present.
Summer signing Kai Havertz has also been prominently involved, which has resulted in fewer opportunities for Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira.
The Portugal international sought a more significant role this season after shining in the early weeks of the season but has hardly been given a chance since recovering from groin surgery in February.
Smith Rowe, however, received the man of the match award in the recent win over Luton Town, his only start since late February, but did not feature at all in either leg against Bayern.
Thomas Partey also did not play in the second leg against the German giants, but Arteta reminded his critics that nobody was complaining about a lack of squad rotation a fortnight ago following a 3-0 win at Brighton, which represented one of his team’s most complete displays of the season.
‘It is a possibility. That (question) is always going to come when you lose a game,’ he said when asked if he regretted not using his fringe players more regularly.
‘When we beat Brighton and had an unbelievable week, everyone was talking about us winning the league, nobody asked this question.’
Arsenal have been accused of looking tired in their last two matches, especially in the second half, but Arteta insists that it is more a result of the busy schedule he has had to work with and pointed out the advantage their European rivals get from their respective leagues.
He said: ‘When you look at the schedule that Bayern had and we had, and the number of games they play, and they can rest 10 players nine days ago, it is different.
‘In these leagues, they do what they do, which is cancel the games or bring them forward to have more rest for the Champions League.
‘We are not doing that, and we are putting more and more pressure on ourselves, but this is what we have, there are no excuses, this is the reality.
‘I think if you want to compete in the same competitions, you should be able to have the same amount of recovery between games.’
