Mikel Arteta provided a very strange and suspicious response when he was asked to provide an update on his squad availability for the EFL Cup semi-final.
Arsenal had their most recent game against Tottenham Hotspur postponed following cases of Covid-19, injuries and absences through AFCON and it had been believed they wanted our second-leg match-up to be rearranged too.
With the game needing to go ahead due to the lack of fixture space for a rearrangement, the Spaniard was quite understandably asked what his squad availability was like.
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The 39-year-old said: “I can’t and I don’t want to because I don’t want to give anything away, I’m sorry.
“There are issues that have not been resolved, that’s why we could not play the last game but as you can understand, I want to keep that internally.
“I hope there is no more news from tomorrow and the game can be played, this is the way we have prepared”.
Quite why the former Everton midfielder was so cryptic with his response is unknown and surely this question would have been expected.
We’ll have to wait and see what team is put out at the Emirates to see if this was all a cover up or genuine worry over a lack of options.
You can view Arteta’s strange response via @footballdaily:
🗣 "I can't and I don't want to."
Mikel Arteta refuses to reveal which players Arsenal have available to face Liverpool pic.twitter.com/9tHAtQRdcA
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) January 19, 2022