Arsenal returned to Premier League action three days after Champions League quarterfinal defeat to Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena.
The Gunners took on Wolves at the Molineux Stadium in Premier League matchday 33 clash. Leandro Trossard got off the mark for the Gunners before Martin Odegaard sealed the victory at the death.
The win has seen the Gunners take to the top of the Premier League table with 74 points – a point better than Manchester City, who have a game in hand.
While the Gunners have kept tabs on the three-horse Premier League title race with the win, it appears Mikel Arteta could not relish the victory enough as he turned attention to a burning issue that has pitted English football managers against governing bodies.
The former Manchester City assistant manager called out English football chiefs to do something about their congested schedules and fixtures.
According to him, it is not about the managers complaining of the tight schedules but the health of the players, who are forced to over 180 minutes of action in less than 48 hours.
“It’s not about us, Pep or myself, it’s about the wellbeing of the players,’ he said. ‘When you compete in European competition, every team has to compete in the same way.
‘‘You cannot have a team that hasn’t played for seven days, or three days before, and has more recovery time and then you have to play in the Premier League and the FA Cup.
‘’It is not right. If you look in any angle, it’s not right. If you want to protect, let’s talk about the players and the protagonists.
‘’Let’s protect the players and do everything we can to give them the maximum time to help them recover and perform and do the show that they do every week.’
Mikel Arteta seems to have spoken the mind of his former boss at Manchester City Pep Guardiola, who also voiced out his concerns on the tight schedule for English clubs involved in mid-week UEFA club competitions.
We reportedly earlier Guardiola went ranting on English football officials for inundating domestic clubs with a marathon of fixtures, irrespective of their continental engagements.
The Spaniard lamented the fact that clubs from other top leagues in Europe have more time to prepare for their continental fixtures than their English counterparts.
The treble winner particularly questioned why Manchester City are made to play the FA Cup semifinal against Chelsea on Saturday barely 48 hours after the mid-week Champions League fixture against Real Madrid.
