Mikel Arteta conceded concern about the trajectory of his side\u2019s season despite a 4\u20130 victory, warning that injuries to midfield options could hamper Arsenal across a congested period.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore it was the strikers, then it was the defenders, now it\u2019s the midfielders…\u201d Arteta reflected as he admitted he was concerned about the direction of his side\u2019s season after the 4\u20130 victory.<\/p>\n
Arteta added: \u201cWe are still coping with that but we need some players back and fit and to give us as well not only numbers, but different options in relation to the opponents that we have, so the quicker the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
The club listed five absentees, most of them midfield-focused. Riccardo Calafiori is down as unknown for both issue and return date. Mikel Merino is sidelined with a foot problem and is pencilled in for a May return. Martin \u00d8degaard has a knee issue with an unknown return. Max Dowman has an ankle problem and is expected in March. Kai Havertz is out with a muscle issue and could be available in March.<\/p>\n
Merino and \u00d8degaard are regular starters. Havertz and Dowman are described as capable deputies. With a desire to rest Declan Rice and Mart\u00edn Zubimendi, Arteta selected a highly attack-minded midfield against weaker opposition on the weekend. Eberechi Eze joined Christian N\u00f8rgaard at the base of a midfield trio that was spearheaded by winger Bukayo Saka, who was drafted into a central role as an emergency measure.<\/p>\n
Young Myles Lewis-Skelly, a midfielder by trade, had been expected to start in midfield before Calafiori\u2019s withdrawal in the warm-up required him to play at left back again.<\/p>\n
Arsenal remain competitive on four fronts and face a demanding run of fixtures. Over the next five weeks they may play as many as nine matches, including two Champions League round of 16 ties against one of Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund or Olympiacos, Premier League meetings with Tottenham and Chelsea, the FA Cup fifth round and the Carabao Cup final with Manchester City. Arteta\u2019s immediate objective is to reach the March international break with minimal further setbacks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta warns injuries leave Arsenal fragile in midfield; hectic schedule and four competitions loom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1067,969],"tags":[947,1066,1047],"class_list":["post-6898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-carabao-cup","category-premier-league","tag-ankle-injury","tag-carabao-cup","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}