Mikel Arteta refused to say that Arsenal’s first loss of the season was because of injuries. Arteta makes Arsenal tactics vow as injuries worsen
Confidence was high heading into Sunday’s trip to Manchester United with Arteta’s side sitting top of the Premier League having won each of their first five games of the season.
Still, the Gunners lost 3-1 at Old Trafford, even though the score might not tell the whole story. Antony scored his first goal for the team, and Marcus Rashford scored twice to end the Gunners’ perfect record.
After a great start to the season, led by summer signings Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko and the return of William Saliba, there have been more and more injuries.
Thomas Partey and Mohamed Elneny can’t play, which limits Arteta’s choices in the middle of the field. Replacement Albert Sambi Lokonga had some trouble at Old Trafford, and things got worse when Emile Smith Rowe looked like he pulled up during Arsenal’s warm-up.
Standard Sport has heard that the club’s medical staff will look at the 22-year-old over the next few days to find out the full extent of any problem.
Still, Arteta wouldn’t say that key players’ absences were to blame for the turn of events, even though there were growing concerns about the fitness of his team. He also said that his tactical plan wouldn’t change.
He said, “I’m not going to make any excuses because these are the players we have, and I think they’re the best.”
“We try to do that and give them confidence and faith, and with those players, we play here the way we played, so that’s it and it’s not going to change.”
