Antonio Conte responds furiously to Mikel Arteta over his North London derby remarks
Antonio Conte has responded furiously to Mikel Arteta after the latter expressed his concerns regarding fixture congestion when asked about the yet to be rescheduled North London derby. The league fixture was postponed back in January after Arsenal were unable to field the required number of players needed for that match.
Arteta was asked about his worries regarding the unknown date of the North London derby. Speaking in the pre-match presser ahead of their match against Aston Villa, the Gunners coach has conveyed that he is concerned about the fixture congestion caused by games being held on Wednesday and the successive Saturday.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s game against West Ham United (h/t Alasdair Gold, the club correspondent for Football.London), Conte did not hold his words back when issuing his response to Arteta. The Spurs manager strongly told the latter to remember the circumstances in which the derby was postponed in the first place.
“I only want Arteta to remember the game between Tottenham and Arsenal that was postponed. My answer is enough if someone wants to speak about fair. I don’t forget this. I don’t want to speak about fair or unfair.”
Bravo, Conte!
It seems that Arteta needs to be reminded how January’s North London derby was postponed in the first place. Those who remember the circumstances would know that the reason why Arsenal did not meet the required number of players was down to their own selves.
The Gunners willingly sent out players such as Ainsley Maitland-Niles on loan, which reduced the number of options they had in their squad. Not to mention, Granit Xhaka’s red card against Liverpool was another one of those reasons that added to their list of absentees. Suspensions are supposed to be a sort of punishment, instead, they benefited from it in the end.
As such, the Arsenal boss in no way can complain about their circumstances as it was down to their own making. Conte’s response is absolutely right in this case, and we truly back the manager for being angry after taking all the context into consideration.
As for the North London derby itself, it remains to be seen when the Premier League would reschedule it in the coming months. Supposedly, the match is being held back due to pressure from the broadcasters as they want to create more significance later in the season when the top four battle would spice up even further.
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We strongly object to that stance as we want the rescheduled date to favour us this time around. After all, Arteta’s side earned an unfair advantage last time around due to the postponement, and that should be negated with an appropriate time that suits our schedule.
But one shouldn’t put their house on it, as broadcasters can often place fixtures according to their own will. Nevertheless, this recent exchange between Arteta and Conte will add a much-needed fire to the upcoming NLD- whenever that takes place.
