Mikel Arteta has defended Arsenal's post-match warm-down session, despite losing Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi to injury. Both players have been ruled out of Tuesday's Champions League clash at home to Lille.
Injuries during warm-down
Following Arsenal's 2-1 win over Leeds at the weekend, players who have not featured much this season took part in the post-match warm-down. Hincapie was included in this group after featuring for the final eight minutes as a substitute for Riccardo Calafiori, making his third Premier League appearance of the campaign.
However, he had to be carried out during the session, and it has since been revealed that he is set for a scan on an ankle injury. To make matters worse, it later emerged that Zubimendi had also picked up a knock in similar fashion, and he will undergo tests to determine the extent of his knee issue.
Arteta's response
Arteta, who insists he will not stop the post-match warm-downs moving forward, has revealed how the knocks came about. "Well, the temptation is now, oh, we don't want to take that risk and we'll do something else," the Arsenal manager said in the news conference. "But we were going to do that anyway the next day.
"When you play this kind of small-sided games, there is contact, and these things have happened. They didn't happen once last season and we did it 37 times I think.
"So the fact that it's there, that people are watching, and then the team raises all their doubts, but now it's very difficult to do.
"My question was, if we had to do this again, the way we planned the seven days that we had in that period, with players that didn't have enough load, would it be the case?
"The answer is yes, and it's a sport of contact, and this can happen. What we can do is guys, they are so competitive, when we do that, please don't touch each other too much? That's it."
