Mikel Arteta who has played with Arsenal since 2011 expressed his disgust in having to play against Manchester City after getting home from their Champions League tie at Napoli on Wednesday night.
Arsenal travelled to the Etihad Stadium and locked horns with Manchester City in their latest Premier League encounter that saw the team of Arsene Wenger losing 6-3. But prior to the match even having been started some complains were made.
Arsenal faced Everton at home last Sunday in the 4pm game, drawing 1-1 and they kicked off against City at 12.45pm. They made the flight back from Naples after the tie, which ended in a 2-0 defeat for them, with the players getting to their homes at roughly 4am.
“The recovery time is very tight,” Arteta says. “I don’t understand why we play Sunday afternoon, Wednesday evening, get back at 4am and then play again on Saturday morning in Manchester. There is nothing we can do – just recover well. It’s a big game and we want to win it.
“The preparation will just be about recovery. It’s not ideal. There is a late warm-down [on Thursday, we try to get our legs back for Friday … travel on Friday and be as well prepared as we can because they will be ready for us. They rested seven or eight players in Munich against Bayern on Tuesday night.
“I think we have different options in the squad. You could see that we changed the team a bit again against Napoli. We have to be ready, no excuses. We know it can be a big statement if we get a good result against City. That’s what we want.”
No matter what both Arsene Wenger and Arteta said prior to their match against Manchester City they still suffered from a resounding 6-3 defeat against the side of Pellegrini and now the Premier League race is tighter than ever.