Mikel Arteta says Arsenal need their absent players back “immediately” after the Bournemouth defeat, with the manager admitting his side will be “much stronger” once key names return.
Mikel Arteta says Arsenal need their injured players back “immediately” after the 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth, with the manager making clear the club’s injury situation is now becoming harder to carry through the final stretch of the season.
Speaking after the loss at the Emirates, Arteta was asked how much of Arsenal’s drop in level might be linked to nerves and tension around the title race. His answer widened quickly into the squad picture. “We need everything,” he said. “We need first of all, we need everybody fit and available. So the ones that are not involved, the ones that are not with us that are really big important players, we need them immediately with us because then we’re going to be much stronger.”
That was one of the clearest acknowledgements yet from Arteta of the strain Arsenal are under heading into the run-in. The manager did not use injuries as an excuse for the Bournemouth defeat, but he did not hide from the fact that missing players are now a major part of the challenge facing his side.
There was little clarity on the next steps for some of those absentees. Asked specifically for updates on Calafiori, Odegaard and Saka, Arteta said: “No. And on Martin as well no. And Bukayo Saka either. We don’t have an update yet.” That leaves continued uncertainty around several senior names at a point in the season when Arsenal are trying to recover momentum quickly.
Even so, Arteta made clear the squad still have responsibilities of their own. He did not want the conversation to settle on tiredness or physical load. “I don’t want to put those excuses,” he said. “We’ve been playing so many games every three day. We’re going to have to continue to do that.” Instead, he pointed to something he felt was missing against Bournemouth. “That’s one of the things that I haven’t seen the team today,” he said. “That level of enjoyment in certain moments. And fight.”
So while Arteta’s message on injuries was blunt, it was not presented as a shield for the performance. Arsenal, in his view, need both things at once. They need their important players back, and they need the players currently available to respond better than they did on Saturday.
For now, though, the most pointed line from the press conference was the simplest one. Arsenal are entering a decisive stage of the season, and Arteta believes the squad cannot be at full strength quickly enough. “We need them immediately with us,” he said. After Bournemouth, that felt less like a passing comment and more like a warning.