‘It’s not fair’: Mikel Arteta slams Premier League schedule after Arsenal defeat to Liverpool

The Gunners suffered a first defeat in seven but remain in pole position to snare fourth this season

(AFP via Getty Images)

Mikel Arteta berated the Premier League for allowing scheduling which sees his side play Wednesday night and then Saturday’s early kick-off, after watching his Arsenal team suffer a 2-0 defeat to Liverpool.

The Gunners have been the beneficiaries of a very relaxed run of fixtures so far in 2022, only playing more than one game in a week on a pair of occasions - when they had the two legs of the Carabao Cup semi-finals to take part in, where they were also beaten by the Reds on aggregate.

Now, however, having games in hand means they have to squeeze in two more to catch up with the fixtures played by their rivals for Champions League spots and, with their matches picked for television broadcast, Arteta is unhappy at the gap between kick-offs.

Arsenal face Aston Villa in Saturday’s 12:30pm game, before another Wednesday-Saturday turnaround next month against big rivals.

“Thank you so much to the Premier League to do that,” he said in sarcastic fashion during his post-match press conference.

“And they’ve done it again for when we have to play Chelsea and Manchester United. So if they want to give them any advantage I say today, thank you so much for doing that.

“Don’t worry on Saturday, the players will be there with energy. They will sleep, eat well. But thank you so much to the Premier League for putting the fixtures like this. Very, very helpful.”

“It’s always BT, it’s Sky, it’s this, it’s that, but the one that is affected is Arsenal and the only thing I care about and we care about is Arsenal and for Arsenal, it’s not fair.”

While the obvious point to make is that the Gunners will face this type of turnaround on a regular basis next season if they progress in cup competitions and compete in European football once again, Arteta is not the only manager to complain about this exact set of timings.

With a Wednesday night game ending at around 10pm, it leaves just 62 hours between the end of that fixture and the start of the weekend’s first encounter.

His opposite number in defeat at the Emirates Stadium, Jurgen Klopp, previously detailed why such a short turnaround was “dangerous” for players and led to an increased risk of injury after less recovery time, particularly during the Covid-affected 20/21 campaign.

Arsenal remain in fourth place, one point ahead of Manchester United with two games in hand.

Liverpool closed the gap on leaders Man City to just a single point with victory on Wednesday.