Mikel Arteta bemoans Arsenal’s gruelling schedule since the Premier League restarted but insists his side will ‘go full gas’ against champions Liverpool
- Arsenal host champions Liverpool in the Premier League on Wednesday night
- They are looking to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat to bitter rivals Tottenham
- It is looking unlikely that Arsenal will qualify for European football next season
- Mikel Arteta highlighted a disadvantage Arsenal have had since league resumed
Mikel Arteta has highlighted a disadvantage Arsenal have had with their Project Restart schedule but insists they will be ready to ‘go full gas’ against champions Liverpool on Wednesday.
Arteta has to pick his players up physically as well as mentally after their north London derby defeat against Tottenham on Sunday.
He said: ‘Some players have had huge demands since we joined the season and played a lot of minutes and you can see that recovery wise with the schedule that we have been given again by the Premier League, every two and half days to play.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are gearing up for their clash with champions Liverpool on Wednesday
Arteta insists his Arsenal players will ‘go full gas’ against Liverpool at the Emirates
‘But we will assess them today and tomorrow and put the players on the pitch that are in the best possible condition to compete and try to win the game again.
‘We played 11 games and we only had an advantage in one which was against Spurs. The rest, all the teams had at least 24, 36 or 48 hours more [rest] than us.
‘But look at the boys, they keep going, they go full gas it doesn’t matter and we will do it again and we cannot complain because it doesn’t matter. They are not going to change it. The fixtures are already there so we will keep going and try our best.’
One player set to remain unavailable is Mesut Ozil who has missed Arsenal’s last five games due to a back problem.
Asked if Ozil will play again this season, Arteta said: ‘I don’t know. The Mesut situation is still the same as it was. We will see if that changes.’
Mesut Ozil is set to remain unavailable after missing the last five games with a back problem
