Mikel Arteta has urged the government not to put football back behind closed doors, saying it is a “different sport” when fans are not present and that the game’s essence gets lost.
Matches in Wales will take place without spectators over the Christmas period and Scottish stadiums will be reduced to capacities of 500. As things stand, though, English venues can host full houses despite the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. Arteta hopes it can stay that way, although his view on the situation is nuanced and he has serious concerns about the schedule clubs are being asked to undertake over the coming days.
Asked what he would say about stadiums being closed to fans, the Arsenal manager responded: “Please don’t go back to that stage, because we have experienced that and it’s something we don’t like so hopefully it’s not what happens. It’s a different sport. Football is all about sharing it with people and having fans around the stadiums and when it is not, it is a completely different sport and the competition gets lost.
“It is not the same … Obviously nobody wants to go back to where we were because we’ve already experienced it and it’s not something we enjoyed a lot, but if we have to carry on doing that, of course we will.”
Arteta had been in favour of postponing a fixture from the Christmas schedule to give breathing space at a time when the pandemic has stretched some squads, not to mention the public health situation, to the limit. That idea was rejected at a Premier League meeting on Monday so Arsenal, who currently have Albert Sambi Lokonga, Pablo Marí and Callum Chambers unavailable after testing positive, will play Norwich, Wolves and Manchester City in the space of seven days.
“The clubs have decided and that’s the decision that they’ve made, so we have to carry on,” Arteta said. “Obviously, we had a preference of what we wanted to do because of the schedule and because of the situation that we are in, but it didn’t stop so now we have to play, if we can, every single match with no recovery and with [fewer] numbers, but we will try to do our best.”
The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email.
Arteta was asked about comments from Jordan Henderson, the Liverpool captain, that “nobody really takes player welfare seriously” and said footballers’ views must count for more.
“They’ve always tried to carry on and try to get this league to the highest standard, and when they start to say something like that, I think we have to really, really listen with open ears because we don’t want to damage the product and the incredible league that we have,” Arteta said.