Arsenal picked up a 2-0 win vs Southampton in the Premier League on Thursday and next up they take on Sheffield United in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
After two losses since the resumption, the Gunners were under a lot of pressure but the win vs the Saints have eased a lot of anxiety amongst the Emirates fanbase.
With teams playing matches within a span of every three or four days, squad rotation has been a key strategy for all the managers but Mikel Arteta has admitted that a lot of his players who played on Thursday will have to take the field on Sunday as well.
The manager said in his press conference: “Well we’ve been unfortunate because we’ve picked up a lot of injuries in the last few weeks.
“We need players to recover as well. We are playing every three days and their condition with this hot climate is getting harder and harder.
“For sure we’re going to use some of the players that we used in the last game, but we’ll have to rotate some of them as well. We have to manage the squad now in the best possible way because it’s Wednesday, then Saturday, then Wednesday again.
“The games are catching up and players are still not in the best condition to compete [so we need to manage the squad].
“We have some great young players who have been playing probably more than they should have been doing but they are showing great maturity and the personalities to play in difficult moments which is great for their experience.
“But as well we need the other players to support them in the right way and that’s why we’re trying to achieve this balance to be very competitive but also excited about the future ahead of us.”
The Gunners have a plethora of injuries with the likes of Martinelli, Pablo Mari and Bernd Leno all ruled out for the rest of the season.
So clearly, the manager will have to use the same set of players in almost every match until the end of the season which could eventually lead to Arsenal dropping some unnecessary points.
As far as the FA Cup is concerned, this will be a big chance for Arteta to pick up a silverware this season, so the manager will be eager to name his strongest side.
