6 hours ago
58
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that Noni Madueke was compelled to withdraw at half-time against Manchester City on Sunday due to injury concerns.
The winger was substituted by Bukayo Saka despite being among the Gunners' most threatening players at the Emirates. Arteta's players were behind 1-0 at the interval following Erling Haaland's ninth-minute strike. Madueke had troubled City's defence down the right flank, giving full-back Nico O'Reilly considerable difficulties.
Regardless of Madueke's promising displays, Arsenal became increasingly exasperated by City's resolute defensive structure, with the former Chelsea winger and Mikel Merino being withdrawn for Saka and Eberechi Eze at half-time.
The latter substitute subsequently crafted the leveller in stoppage time with a perfectly weighted through-ball over City's backline for Gabriel Martinelli to restore parity.
The stalemate leaves the Gunners trailing league-topping Liverpool by five points following five fixtures.
Following the draw, Arteta was questioned whether Madueke's substitution was tactical or injury-related.
"No, I think he had an issue very early in the match and he wasn't well enough to continue," said Arteta.
The Spaniard was pressed about the double substitution during his post-match media briefing and whether it represented an acknowledgement that his team selection was incorrect.
"Not too easy to say that," he replied.
"I think it's very clear what we wanted to do.
"Very well, we started the game. I think we completely dominated.
"I think after they scored the goal without doing absolutely nothing before that, we were a bit shaky for five or seven minutes, and after that we still got the grip of the game away and started to dominate it.
"In the second half, it was a continuation of that with one different player and then with two or three different players."
When asked if it's unfair to describe his line-up as a safety-first selection, he responded: "I leave that to you. But for me, it's a lot of attacking players in that team, yes."
English (US) ·