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Arteta blames ‘insane’ fixture list for resting stars but still sees Gunners battle to victory
MIKEL ARTETA could not hide his delight as his gamble in leaving big guns on the bench paid off.
Arteta saw his men grab a valuable win despite starting without Bakayo Saka and leading scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang, who were bith in the bench.
The Arsenal manager felt he had no choice but to give a breather to some of his star names after four matches in 12 days.
Arteta said: “People probably thought it was a gamble but the players who came in did so because they deserved to play.
“It’s not that we have to rotate. I want to rotate and give the chance to the players. They deserve it. The way they train everyday, behind all the players.
“I’m so pleased even making a lot of changes we were able to produce this performance.
“I had a good feeling about it and their performance level was no coincidence.
“The amount of minutes these players are having to play just now is insane.”
Things did not look good for the Gunners when they fell behind after just six minutes.
Youri Tielemans dispossessed Granit Xhaka and raced in on goal before sweeping the ball across Bernd Leno and just inside the far post.
Arsenal drew level in the 39th minute from a free-kick on the edge of the box.
Willian curled the ball over, David Luiz cut away from his markers and then turned back to power home a header. The home side were still dusting themselves off when they fell foul of a VAR check after Pepe’s shot struck Wilfred Ndidi’s arm. Ref Paul Tierney went to the monitor then pointed to the spot and Alexandre Lacazette sent Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way. If that was hard to swallow for Brendan Rodgers and his men, there was worse to come within minutes of the restart, when Harvey Barnes was taken off on a stretcher and they slipped further behind. Pepe went on a powerful run, laid the ball off and carved his way into the box. He was ideally placed to tap home as Willian nipped the ball past Schmeichel and across to the near post. Rodgers revealed winger Barnes faces knee surgery. He said: “It’s not good news. It looks like he needs an operation. “We’re probably talking about him being out a minimum six weeks. A bit of the bone in his knee has come off. “It’s a bad one for him – it’s a huge blow. He had a clash of knees a few weeks ago so it’s been irritating him. He’s had niggles with it. “It’s a blow because Harvey’s been outstanding.”