Fatigue no excuse as Mikel Arteta urges spluttering Arsenal to respond

LONDON – Mikel Arteta has warned Arsenal that fatigue is no excuse for their damaging stumble of late, as he urged his side to hit back by finishing off Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League quarter-final, second leg on April 15.

Chasing a second successive appearance in the semi-finals of Europe’s elite club competition, the Gunners host Portuguese giants Sporting with a 1-0 lead from last week’s first-leg win in Lisbon.

But, despite being favourites, Arsenal go into the second leg in the midst of a bout of soul searching after losing three of their last four games in all competitions.

Their untimely dip cost them two chances for silverware.

Manchester City defeated them 2-0 in the League Cup final and then second-tier Southampton knocked them out of the FA Cup quarter-finals.

As if that was not frustrating enough for Arteta, April 11’s shock 2-1 home loss to Bournemouth has endangered Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Premier League for the first time in 22 years.

The Gunners are now just six points ahead of second-placed City, who have a game in hand and host Arteta’s team in a seismic showdown on April 19.

When asked if tiredness was a factor in their recent defeats, Arteta said: “I don’t want to pull on those excuses just because we’ve been playing so many games, every three days, and we’re going to have to continue to do that.

“That’s the context and that’s the scenario, and we have to embrace it and especially enjoy the opportunity.

“That’s one of the things that I didn’t see from the team, that level of enjoyment in certain moments... the fight that we have to have to really change the course of the game when it gets difficult.

“We’re going to have different contexts from here to June and we need to be able to adapt and resolve all of them, if we want to achieve what we want to achieve.”

The importance of this weekend’s clash with City at the Etihad Stadium leaves Arteta with a selection dilemma for the Sporting game.

Does the Arsenal manager field his strongest line-up to ensure they get back on track by dispatching the Portuguese champions?

Or will he rest key players to keep them fresh for the trip to Manchester in the hope that Arsenal’s strength in depth is enough to cope with Sporting?

Arteta does not want to use fatigue as an excuse, but the fact is that this next fixture will be the north London club’s 54th so far this season, a gruelling schedule that could be taking its toll.

Arsenal have battled injuries all season and many of Arteta’s players looked exhausted against Bournemouth, with Martin Odegaard, Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber all sidelined.

Viktor Gyokeres was one of the few Arsenal stars to finish the Bournemouth defeat with any credit.

The Sweden striker scored a first-half penalty to take his goal tally for the season to 18, as he shows signs of a life after a slow start to his first campaign with the Gunners.

However, he was largely subdued on his return to his former club Sporting in the first leg.

Arteta must therefore find a way to ensure his physical presence and predatory finishing are influential ingredients in their bid to win the Champions League for the first time.

“We have a lot of important games ahead and we need to embrace it and to enjoy playing those games,” Gyokeres said ahead of the Sporting game.

“It’s a great game to have... so we just need to recover now, leave this (loss to Bournemouth) behind and make a very good performance on Wednesday.” AFP