Mikel Arteta has apologised to Chelsea after Liam Rosenior accused the north London side of a «lack of respect» during the warm-ups before Tuesday’s Carabao Cup semifinal second leg.
Arsenal booked their spot at Wembley with a 1-0 win on the night– and a 4-2 victory on aggregate — but footage later emerged of Chelsea boss Rosenior telling opposition staff to stay in their half as the teams underwent their final preparations at Emirates Stadium.
Rosenior subsequently explained that «they were affecting our warm-up» and while «I don’t have an issue with anyone at Arsenal [or] Mikel [Arteta]» he added that «in that moment, I didn’t think that respect was shown to my team.»
Speaking on Friday, Arteta addressed the situation. «I don’t know, it’s his opinion and obviously we respect everybody,» he began.
«At any point, if one of the staff members went through that, we apologise and that’s it. It’s very common in football, especially with the keepers because they have to kick long balls and all that. So nothing there to comment.»
Arteta played down the suggestion there were any psychological tricks in play before the game.
«I have no idea but I don’t think that was intentional,» he said. «I will engage with the things that in my opinion are relevant to the team and what is best for the team and the club, that’s for sure.»
The Gunners face Sunderland at home on Saturday aiming to move nine points clear at the top of the table. They were held to a 2-2 draw in November’s reverse fixture.
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«As always, we’ve tried to prepare every weekend,» Arteta said. «Every opponent is different and bring very difficult challenges and we need to face them and we’ve been doing that for a lot of months now.
«And that’s the thing that we have to continue to do and play with our hunger and commitment every single game. Because if we do that, we have a big chance to win our games.»
Arteta said Martin Ødegaard will be back «in a matter of days» after picking up a minor muscular problem at Leeds last weekend but Jurriën Timber is available.
Bukayo Saka‘s hip problem is «much better and hopefully very soon he will be back with us.»
