Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta revealed the sleepless nights he endured leading up to the North London derby against Tottenham Hotspur. The unexpected injuries suffered by several key players during the international break forced him to adjust his carefully laid plans.
Gabriel Magalhaes’ decisive header in the 64th minute secured a 1-0 victory for Arsenal, but the team was hampered by the absences of Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Mikel Merino, Riccardo Calafiori, Takehiro Tomiyasu, and Kieran Tierney.
Arteta described the challenge of adapting his strategy to accommodate the available players, emphasizing the impact of the injuries on his pre-match preparations.
“I didn’t enjoy [the preparation] because I didn’t sleep much,” Arteta said.
“I looked ahead to Spurs for four or five days and I had a super clear plan how to do it.
“I prepared all the meetings, the training sessions and everything. Then I get the news that we’ve lost a player, and then another player and then another player, and I had to completely change it and adapt the plan to the players that we had available. So, it was a great challenge.”