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Mikel Arteta explains why he snubbed three young Gunners in Champions League dead rubber

December 13, 2023

Mikel Arteta has explained why he didn’t decide to bring on three young Arsenal stars during their Champions League dead rubber against PSV.

The Gunners had already qualified as group winners going into Tuesday’s trip to Eindhoven and many felt Arteta might hand opportunities to a couple of his young players. Although the Arsenal boss made eight changes from the 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa, it was still an experienced line up.

William Saliba, 22, was the youngest member of the starting XI, while Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nketiah and Jakub Kiwior were among those thrown back into the side. This meant there was no place for teenagers Ethan Nwaneri, Lino Sousa and Reuell Walters – who all began on the bench.

With the scores locked at 1-1 heading into the final half an hour, Arteta decided against blooding any of his starlets and instead chose to bring on the likes of Declan Rice, Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard. The game ended up finishing level as Yorbe Vertessen cancelled out Nketiah’s opener.

Speaking after the match, Arteta explained why he didn’t hand chances to Nwaneri, Sousa or Walters. “I don’t think it was the right context,” the Spaniard said. “Making eight changes already, to throw them in there against a team that hasn’t lost at home in nearly two years, I didn’t think it was the right moment.

“I wanted to see how the game developed, but it was too much I think for them and as well we had three little issues, and we had to play the subs, and we had no room because we really wanted to play Emile as well.”

The result saw Arsenal finish Group B on 13 points from a possible 18, with their only defeat coming against Lens on matchday two. Despite making so many changes to his XI, Arteta was pleased with his side’s performance and how they battled against a PSV side who last lost at home in November 2022.

“Yeah top match, we made eight changes,” Arteta said. “There were good moments, there were moments we lacked that cohesion and timings especially in the way we pressed against a really good side, when you don’t get the timings right you have to defend awkward spaces and we had to do that a few times tonight which could have cost us the game.

“But the reality is we had some very good moments as well, I’m really happy with the attitude and behaviour of every single player, how they tried and in the end we could’ve won it with the chance of Leo and the goal that was disallowed.”

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