Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has called for an increase in the number of substitutions allowed in football after losing Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus to new injuries. The Gunners are set to face Sheffield United in a crucial match as they aim to secure the English Premier League title this season.
The absence of Jesus and Partey could pose challenges for the team, and these injuries aren’t the first time both players have been sidelined. Footballers around the world are facing challenges in maintaining their fitness due to the packed calendar of club and international matches.
Not long ago, teams were limited to making only three substitutions during a match, and this was recently increased to five. Arteta is now advocating for a further increase in the substitution allowance, suggesting that it should be expanded to ten substitutions to provide teams with more flexibility and mitigate the impact of injuries on their squads.
The Spanish gaffer said, as quoted by ESPN:
“If we have more games, more competitiveness and physically the standards are higher — by playing more minutes — we have to do that [increase the 25-man squad size] or instead of five subs, we have 10.
“The five subs is now something normal but it was a big fight to go from three to five. I cannot imagine the game in the conditions we are in today after last year and the World Cup without five subs, it would be so difficult.”
Just Arsenal Opinion
Footballers are being made to play too many matches in a calendar year, which is why most of them get injured quickly.
If nothing is done, we will hardly see a player who can play an entire season without being injured not so far from now.
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