Mikel Arteta Calls for Bigger Matchday Squads in Premier League
Mikel Arteta is turning up the volume on a debate the Premier League can no longer ignore.
On the eve of Arsenal’s clash with Aston Villa, the Spaniard renewed his plea for bigger matchday squads, insisting the current rules are failing both players and clubs and calling on league chiefs to act immediately – this season, not the next.
Arteta’s plea: “I’ve been begging”
Right now, managers can name nine substitutes, an increase brought in during the Covid-19 period. For Arteta, it’s still not enough. His argument is blunt: modern football is too intense, the calendar too crowded, and the stakes too high to keep leaving fully fit senior players at home.
“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,” he said.
He wants the bench expanded so he never has to completely exclude a first‑team player from a matchday squad. Not because of sentiment, he insists, but because of the physical and psychological demands of the game at the top level.
“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.”
Big names left out, big problems created
The issue is not theoretical for Arsenal. This season Arteta has already had to leave out high‑profile figures such as Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus from his squad on certain matchdays, a situation he believes is both damaging and avoidable.
He feels those calls ripple through the dressing room. Players who train all week, then find out they are not even allowed to sit on the bench, are left in limbo. It strains relationships, tests morale and, in his view, undermines the sense of unity he works so hard to build.
He calls those conversations “difficult” and admits they weigh heavily on him, especially when dealing with players desperate to travel, change, warm up and live the game with their teammates rather than sit alone at home in front of a television.
“Ask the players”
Arteta is adamant the debate should not be framed around managers’ convenience but around what players themselves want.
“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 does not believe that problem exists.
“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.”
In his eyes, exclusion helps nobody: not the club, not the player’s development, not the collective spirit.
“A real problem, with a simple solution”
For Arteta, the matter is clear-cut. The current restrictions, he says, work against everything clubs are trying to build: competition for places, togetherness, and a squad ready to meet the relentless demands of domestic and international football.
“This does not benefit the club, nor does it benefit the assessment of the player, nor does it help them feel part of it. In my opinion, it is a real problem and it has a very simple solution.”
That solution sits on the Premier League’s table: raise the limit on matchday squad numbers and let managers bring more of their players with them into the arena.
With title races tightening, fixture lists swelling and stars being left at home in full health, the question now is whether the league moves with the modern game – or leaves managers like Arteta begging from the touchline.
