Arteta rejects accusations of caution after pulling Manchester City

Mikel Arteta insists that Arsenal’s offer to end his trophy will not be ruined by his tactics after claiming that the Gunners is guilty of being too careful.

Former English stars Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher accused Arsenal of playing with the handbrake about following Arteta’s controversial team selection for Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City.

Arsenal-wing player Ebereechi Eze fell on the couch, despite the absence of Martin Odegaard, with Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Mikel Merino who re-formed the midfield trio after they had been a 1-0 defeat in a 1-0 defeat at Premier League’s Liverpool in August.

The tactics of Arteta ran the danger to be counterproductive after erling gain the city gave an early lead at the Emirates Stadium.

Only when Arteta sent Saka during the break on Eze and Bukayo, Arsenal finally took the lead.

Even then it needed a stop-time goal from Gabriel Martinelli to save a 1-1 draw, leaving five points behind the Liverpool leaders in the title race.

Without a trophy since the 2020 FA Cup and the last three seasons ended as Premier League two, Arteta is confronted with increasing questions about his ability to change Arsenal into champions.

But he responded to the latest criticism of his game plan with a stabbing refutation.

«I don’t read it, but if you tell me that this is the most important (story), I would be very surprised with my knowledge and my know -how and how I analyze a football match,» he said reporters on Tuesday.

“Because it was impossible for someone to predict such a dominance of Arsenal for 96 minutes, because it never happened as a manager in 17 years of Pep (Guardiola).

«So if the story goes somewhere else and we are talking about dominance, how can you be dominant against such a team if you have done that, what was the word? Hand brake? Dominance and handbrake: they are two different words.»

Read also: Noni Madueke expected to be out for two months with knee niggle

It was not the first time that Arteta had made conversive selections that were followed by an inconsistent arsenal display.

Arteta refused to admit that his line-up may have contributed to the slow start against City.

“I respect everyone’s opinion, but when I saw everything and I saw it again and all the statistics, I was surprised.

“We played Eze on the right. Could he play 90 minutes? That is a question I asked for myself because none of you know the load he can do.

«So it’s easy to say that he could have played from the start. Maybe not. Because he has been playing two games from the start.»

Arsenal returns to action on Wednesday at the third Port Vale in the League Cup on Wednesday.

Arteta confirmed that wing player Noni Madueke in the form is a period on the sidelines with a knee injury in the first half against City.

«He goes out for a few weeks. We will probably have to do another scan next week,» said Arteta.

«It doesn’t look that bad. He was clearly stripped. It is very disappointing to see that he was in such a good condition. He looked a real threat, so it’s a big miss for us.»

Published on September 23, 2025