Mikel Arteta Calls for Expanded Matchday Squads in Premier League

Mikel Arteta has turned up the volume on a debate the Premier League can no longer ignore. The Arsenal manager has urged officials to act quickly and expand matchday squads, insisting the change must come in this very season for the sake of player welfare.

Right now, managers can name nine substitutes, an increase from the seven allowed before the Covid-19 pandemic. For Arteta, that still isn’t enough. Not when the calendar is crammed with domestic and international fixtures. Not when elite squads regularly carry well over 20 senior players.

He wants the limit pushed higher so he is never forced to leave a fit first-teamer at home.

His frustration is rooted in experience. Arsenal face Aston Villa tonight, and across this season Arteta has had to omit big names such as Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus from his matchday squad. Those calls have not just been tactical choices; in his view, they have created “a real problem” inside the dressing room.

“That is why I have been begging Premier League officials to extend those numbers just for the safety of the players, which is the most important thing,” Arteta said, laying bare how strongly he feels.

He believes the modern game simply demands more bodies.

“I think every team needs more than 20 players on the pitch, ideally, to maintain the level of demand in the international matches we face, but these are the rules, and within these rules, we have to play,” he continued.

The rules may be fixed for now. The human cost, he argues, is not.

Arteta spoke about the strain of those “difficult” conversations with players who train all week, then discover they are not only out of the starting XI, but not even in the squad. Professionals who would rather travel, warm up, and sit on the bench than be stuck at home watching on television.

“The question should be put to the players more than anyone else,” he said. “What do they want? If they say: no, I would rather stay at home, then we will have a problem because they will not like what they are doing.”

He doesn’t believe that scenario is realistic. In his mind, the answer is obvious.

“I am sure that if you ask the players, everyone would want to be part of the team on matchday, otherwise you would have to tell one of them that he is not even part of the matchday squad. That is extremely hard. And it will not benefit anyone.”

Arteta sees damage on several fronts when a senior player is cut adrift on a matchday: the club loses a potential option, the player’s development and evaluation stall, and the sense of belonging inside the squad erodes.

“This does not benefit the club, nor does it benefit the assessment of the player, nor does it help them feel part of it,” he argued. “In my opinion, it is a real problem and it has a very simple solution.”

For Arteta, that solution sits on the Premier League’s table. The question now is whether the league moves fast enough to match the intensity of the schedule it created.