Mikel Arteta follows Pep Guardiola by blasting Arsenal schedule: 'Protect the players' | OneFootball

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Mikel Arteta has echoed Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola in taking aim at his side’s schedule.

Both Arsenal and Man City were involved in the Champions League on Wednesday night, with their next games then scheduled for Saturday.

City took on Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley, winning 1-0, while Arsenal beat Wolves 2-0 to go top of the Premier League.

Guardiola said it was “unacceptable” for his side to be playing three days after facing Real Madrid in Europe - and Arteta has now followed suit.

The Spaniard said his players had just “an hour or two of sleep” after their game against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, eventually flying home on Thursday evening after doing a recovery session in Germany.

“It’s not about us, Pep or myself, it’s about the well-being of the players,” said Arteta.

“When you compete in European competition every team has to compete in the same way.

Complaint: Mikel Arteta is angry with Arsenal’s recent schedule

Action Images via Reuters

“You cannot have a team that hasn’t played for seven days, or three days before and has more recovery time, and then you have to play in the Premier League and the FA Cup. It is not right.

“If you look in any angle it’s not right. If you want to protect, let’s talk about the players and the protagonists.

“Let’s protect the players and do everything we can to give them the maximum time to help them recover and perform and do the show that they do every week.”

Arsenal had to dig deep to beat Wolves at Molineux, with goals from Leandro Trossard and Martin Odegaard securing the three points.

“Wake up, start to talk about Wolves, then about what the players need, how we’re gonna get into the best mental and physical condition to win this game and to beat them.

“The boys were unbelievable, the staff was unbelievable. It’s a joy to work with them.

“We realised that if you want to be in the big competitions fighting for the Champions League, fighting for the Premier League and the level that requires you have to do something special.

“You have to be something special and love to compete and expose yourself when it’s needed to get the outcome that you want. I thought the boys did that really well today.”