Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal fitness problems in explanation for squad rotation vs Man City

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Mikel Arteta confirms Arsenal fitness problems in explanation for squad rotation vs Man City

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has provided an explanation for the latest batch of alterations to his starting XI this evening.

Arsenal vs City

The Gunners are of course currently locked in action with Manchester City at the Emirates, in Sunday’s marquee Premier League fixture.

Arteta’s men headed into proceedings amid an altogether hit-and-miss spell of form of late, culminating in just one win from their last five across all competitions.

This 3-point haul, though, came in impressive fashion versus Leeds last weekend, with Arsenal having since followed up with a credible 1-1 draw with Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday night.

Securing another positive result this evening, however, will be far easier said than done.

This comes with Man City currently in the midst of a frankly remarkable spell of form of their own.

After getting the better of Everton at Goodison Park during the week, Pep Guardiola’s men made it 17 consecutive victories across all competitions, a stretch which unsurprisingly sees the Sky Blues sitting pretty atop the Premier League table.

‘Don’t have a choice’

Further boosting the hopes of the visitors in north London, meanwhile, was word arriving ahead of kick-off that the in-form Ilkay Gundogan has returned to the City fold, to slot into midfield alongside Kevin De Bruyne:

Mikel Arteta, on the other hand, has opted to ring the changes this evening.

The Arsenal boss reintroduced the likes of Pablo Mari, Mohamed Elneny, Kieran Tierney and Nicolas Pepe to his starting XI, with Emile Smith Rowe amongst those to have dropped out:

In turn, speaking during his pre-match interview, Arteta was inevitably drawn on the latest batch of alterations to his line-up.

And the Spaniard went on to confirm that he was left with ‘no choice’ but to shake things up, amid struggles on the part of a number of his side’s stars to even train ahead of today’s fixture:

‘We don’t have a choice. We have players who have struggled to train the last few days.’

Arsenal vs Manchester City live streaming: Watch Premier League online

Manchester City ‘confident’ of extending Kevin De Bruyne’s contract soon


This article was edited by Josh Barker.

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Premier League table

# Team MP D P
1 Manchester City FC 24 34 56
2 Leicester City FC 25 17 49
3 Manchester United FC 24 19 46
4 West Ham United FC 25 10 45
5 Chelsea FC 25 16 43
6 Liverpool FC 25 11 40
7 Everton FC 24 4 40
8 Aston Villa FC 23 11 36
9 Tottenham Hotspur FC 24 10 36
10 Arsenal FC 24 6 34
11 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC 25 -6 33
12 Leeds United 24 -3 32
13 Southampton FC 24 -9 30
14 Crystal Palace FC 24 -15 29
15 Burnley FC 25 -12 28
16 Brighton & Hove Albion FC 24 -5 26
17 Newcastle United FC 24 -15 25
18 Fulham FC 25 -11 22
19 West Bromwich Albion 25 -36 14
20 Sheffield United FC 25 -26 11
Player Team Goals
Salah, Mohamed Liverpool FC 17
Fernandes, Bruno Manchester United FC 15
Kane, Harry Tottenham Hotspur FC 13
Son, Heung Min Tottenham Hotspur FC 13
Calvert-Lewin, Dominic Everton FC 13
Vardy, Jamie Leicester City FC 12
Bamford, Patrick Leeds United 12
Gundogan, Ilkay Manchester City FC 11
Wilson, Callum Newcastle United FC 10
Watkins, Ollie Aston Villa FC 10
Rashford, Marcus Manchester United FC 9
Sterling, Raheem Manchester City FC 9
Barnes, Harvey Leicester City FC 9
Zaha, Wilfried Crystal Palace FC 9
Maddison, James Leicester City FC 8
Ings, Danny Southampton FC 8
Lacazette, Alexandre Arsenal FC 8
Aubameyang, Pierre-Emerick Arsenal FC 8
Soucek, Tomas West Ham United FC 8
Mane, Sadio Liverpool FC 7

Source: 101greatgoals.com