No explanation required

Morning all.

We’ll hear from Mikel Arteta today for the first time in a couple of weeks, but with the schedule the way it is, and the way it could potentially be if we continue to make progress in the cup competitions, his will be a voice we can’t escape.

Today, the big questions will be about fitness, with so many high profile players on the list of those who either didn’t go away at all, or returned from international duty early. I think I’ve made my feelings pretty clear about the reaction to all of this, but it was, in my opinion, kind of remarkable to see an article in the Guardian reference how opposition fans were feeling about this.

A sub-headline read: “Rival fans have raged after 11 of Mikel Arteta’s players withdrew from action with their countries before the season finale”.

And the question I have is, why should we give a shit what opposition fans think, and why are some mouthy twats on Twitter driving the media narrative in this way? If, and it’s a very big if, genuine England fans, for example, were fuming that Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka withdrew because they feel it would make England’s World Cup chances better, perhaps they have a semi-legitimate argument.

It’s not one that stands up to any real scrutiny though, especially as the England manager himself made it clear the best thing for both players in the short and medium term was to avoid risking them in a meaningless friendly. As I said earlier in the week, between them for club and country this season, these two have almost 100 games under their belts this season, there’s still potentially another 15 domestic fixtures to play, before they go straight to a World Cup with little or no rest. There’s no lack of commitment from either player, they’re always available when needed.

So, anyone with a functioning brain would realise that the best thing for England is to ensure they’re not even more overworked in a game that doesn’t matter. Thus, the only reason @FlagShaggaTHFC756565 on Twitter is angry is because he wants those players to get injured so Arsenal’s chances of success this season are diminished. It’s a completely bad-faith argument, if you can even call it that, and I just don’t understand why it’s given oxygen.

I realise I say that while I’m sitting here writing about it, but it’s so tedious and I don’t think it’s a healthy way to operate. Not just in football, by the way, it’s so prevalent in every aspect of public discourse these days. Some mad, loud-mouth wanker says something on social media, that’s held up as the prevailing wisdom or representative of how the majority of people feel, and then becomes the cornerstone of a debate around a particular topic. Yet, out in the real world, that’s not how people think or act or behave. Not least because if you did, you’d probably get a dig in the mouth.

Which is to say, I expect Mikel Arteta to get asked some questions about this today, and I hope they’re dealt with in the right way. I think it’s perfectly valid to want information about the fitness of key players, but the idea that he or Arsenal or any of these players owe opposition fans, or tedious rent-a-gob pundits, an explanation about what they did or didn’t do in an international break in March is absurd to me. We had a player leave the England camp in a leg-brace, for goodness sake.

We know this manager likes to play his cards close to his chest with regards injury news anyway, and I have a suspicion those cards will be stapled to his nipples today. And on that lovely image, I’m going to leave it there for this morning.

We will bring you all the press conference updates and stories over on Arseblog News, for some extra reading here’s Tim’s column this week which is about the run-in and the weeks that lie ahead, and if you need something to listen to, there’s an Arsecast below. Have a good one!

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