Arteta ‘disrespect’ won’t ‘cost Arsenal the title’, it’s why they might actually win it
Mikel Arteta “will cost Arsenal the title this year” if he continues to “get it wrong” as he did in one of the most comfortable victories of his reign as Gunners boss on Saturday…
A brace from Martin Zubimendi and a goal from Viktor Gyokeres secured all three points for Arteta’s side over Nottingham Forest, which lifted them to the top of the Premier League table on nine points after four games.
But nothing – not their position in their table, all the goals being scored by summer signings, the excellence of fellow off-season additions Eberechi Eze and Noni Madueke – can deter Richard Keys in his vendetta against the Gunners boss.
READ MORE: Eze and Madueke show Arteta the Arsenal way against a Postecoglou side that already looks lost
The beIn Sports presenter was baffled by the Spaniard’s decision to rest Declan Rice at the Emirates on Sunday.
“For me, the one thing that will cost Arsenal the title this year is Mikel Arteta,” Keys said. “He got it wrong at Liverpool, badly wrong. Got it wrong today for me.
“How many games has Declan Rice played? Rested. Surely you put everything you’ve got into this early part of the season and say, ‘Go and get me a league, go and make a statement.'”
Arteta said ahead of the game, as a manager of a football club battling on all fronts trying to avoid the same player burnout he’s been criticised of in the past, that Rice’s place on the bench was indeed a case of rest and rotation, as he also looks to find “balance” and “connections” between “very good [other] players”.
In short, it’s good management. The alternative would be him using a first XI until they’re all entirely knackered before turning to the backup options later in the season, by which point some of them would be thoroughly f***ed off at not having played, while none of them would be match fit. Good plan, Keysy.
And of course his apostle in the Finding Any Fault In Arteta fellowship was in agreement.
Andy Gray added: “Listen, you should do exactly that. Get a good start, go and beat teams, stay up there, top of the league. It’s a little disrespectful to suggest that he’s resting them because they’re playing Nottingham Forest. That can come and bite you.”
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Arteta’s crime in this instance was starting a midfielder over Rice in Mikel Merino who had just scored four goals while playing every minute for Spain – the best international team in Europe, if not the world – in their World Cup qualifying wins over Bulgaria and Turkey. So “disrespectful”.
And we assume that Keys and Gray are particularly disappointed that this was indeed a game in which they ‘made a statement’ in their bid to win the Premier League title, because Rice wasn’t playing.
To be that dominant with Rice rested and both Bukayo Saka and William Saliba injured is testament to the work Arteta and Andrea Berta have done in the transfer window to build a squad able to cope with setbacks and grant them the option of the absolutely necessary rotation required if Arsenal are going to win it this season.
Enzo Maresca doesn’t have that same squad depth and felt the full effect of that dip in quality in the draw with Brentford later on Sunday.
While we’re still unconvinced Arteta can be the manager to lead Arsenal in this final push after three consecutive second-placed finishes, any suggestion that him using the depth of his squad to achieve that feat should be treated with the disdain it deserves.
