(Reuters) – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said is worried about losing more of his squad to injury with Thursday’s Europa League game against Bodo/Glimt being played on an artificial pitch.
Bukayo Saka’s goal in the 24th minute gave Arsenal the win at Aspmyra Stadion in Norway but Arteta said the players would be closely monitored over the next couple of days to see if there was any impact from playing on the surface.
“We had 16 players available, so I have to play 11 and I don’t want those 11 to play 90 minutes here because I know probably what is going to happen in the next day or two,” Arteta told reporters.
“If they get injured here for sure, we will be talking that we should not risk a player or risk a player at the end. They have to play.”
Arteta also praised his side for ending Bodo/Glimt’s run of 14 straight wins at home in European competition.
“(Bodo/Glimt) deserve a lot of credit to do that because there are not many European teams that have done that,” Arteta said.
“We have come here, game 15 and won it. We have talked about this in the last few days and that was the challenge in different conditions, in different contexts, making a lot of changes. Find a way to win and we’ve done it.”
Arsenal play back-to-back matches against PSV Eindhoven on Oct. 20 and a week later before rounding off their group campaign at home to FC Zurich on Nov. 3.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
