Mikel Arteta’s squad is under plenty of scrutiny following the exits from the UEFA Champions League and their last defeat in the Premier League against Aston Villa. It has left the club’s season and hopes of a trophy hanging by a thread with little, if any, room for error in their remaining six games.

That said, the analysis has been centred around how spent the team appears with a core group of players being used more than any other. Arsenal have seven players who have started 40 games this season whereas the only pair who have for City are Phil Foden and Rodri.

Ironically the latter is publicly known to have made comments this season about tiredness himself. City were also knocked out of the Champions League at the same stage as Arsenal by Real Madrid on penalties.

This tiredness trope is not agreed upon by all, however. football.london spoke to Arsenal title winner and Invincible Ray Parlour courtesy of Netbet and asked the former midfielder for his thoughts on the depth of the squad and the shortcomings which have led to this fatigue discussion.

“Well, you heard Rodri you know, Man City players saying, ‘We’re tired. We need a rest.’” Parlour said. “And they got the rest [last] weekend.

“But for me, at this stage of the season, you can't feel tired. I mean, even if you are tired, you can't feel tired.

“You just got to make sure you do everything you can, massages. You know, you keep getting your body ready for the next game because you don't get many opportunities to be in the title race.”

Arsenal remain very much in the title race of course and sit just two points behind Manchester City with the remaining six games. However, with Bukayo Saka in particular seemingly suffering from fatigue as Arteta admitted after the clash with Man City at the Etihad, it is not enough to dissuade Parlour another gear should still be found.

“You know, all them sort of big games and this is why you play football. So when they say, ‘I feel tired' I'm like, wait a minute, you might feel tired when you're mid-table and you have nothing to play for and you're getting a bit, ‘Oh, well, I've had enough now. I just want the season to end,’ but there's still much still so much to play for.

“And this is why you play football, to win trophies and compete at the highest level. So as I said before, I mean, I felt tired in a lot of games, but I made sure I didn't feel tired when I played.

“You’re running around like normal, and you make sure you make that extra effort to keep going as a team because you let your teammates down if you don't. So as much as players have played lots of football, which we know.

“But this is the most exciting part of the season. You know, when you come to that crunch last five, six games and you know you've got you've got a chance for the title, you've got to find something extra.

“I don't care, 'red zone' or whatever they call it now and all this you know, for me, you've got to say right, ‘Wait a minute. I'm gonna roll my sleeves up. I'm gonna run even harder to try and win the next game and maybe at the end of the season, I've got a winners medal.'

“And when you finish your career, you know, you can look back and say, I put that extra bit in and every single player did and that's why we won that trophy that season.

“So for me, you just got to deal with it and Arteta has got to look at it and say, ‘You've got to play, but recover better.’ I mean, you don't have to train hard now this time of the season, you aren’t going to get fitter than what you are now.”

The question is whether he’s right. Should these players be able to find an extra gear despite clearly having played a significant number of minutes at a level which for most is the first time that they are experiencing both a title race with the demands of the Champions League combined?

In the summer, certainly, there is work that can be done to ease the load on the squad. Signing competition for Saka, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and a new centre-forward would all help of course and that needs to be the mission come June.

Parlour was speaking to football.london courtesy of Netbet.

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