Mikel Arteta has responded to claims by several Manchester City players that Arsenal employed “dark arts” in Sunday's 2-2 draw at the Etihad Stadium by insisting that several of his players could face injury absences.
John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Bernardo Silva criticised the Gunners' approach last weekend as the visitors attempted to defend a 2-1 lead with 10 men, but Stones equalised in the 98th minute.
After the match, Stones said Arsenal “have done [dark arts] for a few years – you can call it smart or dirty,” while Akanji and Silva accused them of wasting their time.
Gabriel Martinelli, Jurriën Timber and Riccardo Calafiori were substituted in the second half, while goalkeeper David Raya left the stadium with his right knee bandaged.
Speaking ahead of Wednesday's Carabao Cup third-round match against Bolton Wanderers, Arteta was apparently upset by comments made by Arsenal's title rivals.
“I always prefer facts over words or assumptions,” he said. “We'll see who's available tomorrow and then we can talk about 'dark arts' or things like that or if it's a reality. Unfortunately, yes, there will be some players who won't be available.”
Asked if any of those injuries were serious, Arteta replied: “We have to wait for one of them to happen.”
Asked if the dark arts label was fair, Arteta said: “I don't know. It's opinions and that's all. But as I mentioned before, I think there will be other factors that will play a role and that's all. We will use the facts.”
“[What are the other factors?] “Well, if a player is faking something that means he will go ahead and be involved in the team and play.”
Arteta pointed to a waste of time by City when they were briefly reduced to ten men and claimed that after Leandro Trossard's red card, Arsenal had learned from the last time they played City shorthanded when they lost 5-0 in August 2021.
“We had to play the game we had to play,” Arteta said. “The first 10 or 15 minutes we couldn't do it with 11 against 11. Then we improved a lot. Then they put us in a very different context and we did what every team does. They played 30 seconds with 10 men. Look what they did for 30 seconds. It's normal what they did. We had to do it in a different way.
“We learned from the past. Unfortunately, we have been in the same situation several times. We were in that same situation with Granit [Xhaka sent off] After 38 minutes we lost 5-0. We better learn from this. Otherwise it would be stupid, very stupid.”
City striker Erling Haaland was caught on camera at the end of the match telling Arteta to “stay humble” and was asked for his response. Arteta said: “It's part of football, part of sport. After the game, all that goes away and we move on. That's it.”
