Arsenal news: Unai Emery says ‘fatigue is not an excuse’ ahead of Europa League tie against Rennes
Arsenal’s trip to Rennes is sandwiched between Premier League fixtures against Tottenham and
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Unai Emery says “fatigue is not an excuse” for Arsenal’s players ahead of the club’s Europa League round-of-16 tie against Rennes on Thursday, amid concerns over the Premier League not doing enough to ease fixture congestion.
Arsenal’s squad pushed themselves to the edge in the club’s dramatic 1-1 draw against Tottenham last weekend, and face Manchester United next Sunday in another crucial fixture in the race for the Champions League places.
However, Emery said the team’s gargantuan effort, when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s last-gasp penalty was saved by Hugo Lloris, should not lead to any lethargic performances from his players.
“It is not an excuse for us, we have the habit to play a lot of matches week by week,” he said.
“We played on Saturday, rested Sunday and started to work on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and tomorrow I think we are going to be okay to play every player. For us, it is a very important match.
“I respect them, the Premier League they decide the schedules for our matches and we adapted.
“Our adaptation is to prepare for the matches on the days we can have but, above all, our habit is to play a lot of matches during the week, so it is no excuse.
“You ask me if I prefer sometimes more time to prepare for one match then yes, but for example in this match we don’t have an excuse.
“We had time to prepare for this match well, maybe we are going to play after on Sunday but we have this habit and we have the players to share and find combinations with the players who can play tomorrow with a big performance, fresh players with a big energy.
“Then also on Sunday with some of the same players who play tomorrow and other fresh players can come in and get the best performance in two matches.”
Arsenal will be without Alexandre Lacazette for the fixture after the French striker received a three-game ban for an elbow during the Gunners’ dire first-leg defeat in Belarus to BATE Borisov.
Emery revealed Lacazette had approached him claiming that he thought the ban should only have been one game, but Emery rebuffed the idea and insisted he was confident in Aubameyang to lead the line.
“We know, usually, when you had a red card, you can take minimum one and maximum three. I spoke with him and he said to me, he was asking one match and I in the worst position I said to him, in my opinion, it was three,” Emery said.
“We have players and also we have confidence with all the players to play without Lacazette.”
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