Mikel Arteta has claimed “the top players in the world” perform every three days as he defended his decision to start Bukayo Saka in the Europa League win over PSV Eindhoven.
The England winger limped off after 85 minutes after receiving “a kick” and the Gunners boss expected him to be fit for Sunday’s visit to Southampton. “He was limping a little bit, but hopefully, he will be alright," Arteta said.
Saka has started 12 of Arsenal ’s 14 matches this season as well as coming off the bench in England’s 3-3 draw with Germany. He also played 59 minutes on the artificial turf at FK Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League last week before playing 82 minutes at Leeds.
But with the World Cup now only a month away, Arteta said: “Look at the top players in the world, they play 70 matches, every three days and make the difference and win the game. You want to be at the top, you have to be able to do that.
"And if we start to put something different in the mind of a young player, I think we are making a huge mistake because then [he would] be like ‘no, I don’t play now, on astroturf I don’t play’. I don’t want that. I want them to be ruthless every three days. I want them knocking on my door [saying] I want to play, I want to win the game.
“Does the number of games he’s playing worry me? There is no fitness coach in the world that is going to tell me that they cannot do it, because I’ve seen it. 72 games and scored 50 goals. The players that score 50 goals do not play 38 games in the season, it’s just impossible.”
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Arteta now has a squad to rotate between matches and made six changes from the weekend win at Leeds - and four from the side which beat FK Bodo/Glimt in Norway last Thursday.
“They are giving me the right reason to do so,” Arteta added. “It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give them opportunities to do that especially with the way they train and behave which shows they care about the team. So, I’m really happy everybody is participating and everybody feels part of it which is really important and then everybody is competing and putting in the performances that are needed to win the games.
Cedric Soares is now fit again but has yet to make an appearance this season. “The competition is one thing. The second one is because he was injured for a while and he had a recurring injury but now he is fully fit and he’s a player that deserves to play and I want to give him the minutes because he deserves it.”
