EPL: I couldn’t sleep before Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Tottenham – Arteta

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EPL: I couldn’t sleep before Arsenal’s 1-0 win at Tottenham – Arteta

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has admitted he could not sleep a lot ahead of their 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

Arteta claimed his game plan was disrupted by the injuries picked up by some of his players during the international week.

Gabriel Magalhaes’ 64th-minute header proved to the winner in the first North London Derby of this campaign.

But Arsenal were without Declan Rice through suspension in addition to injury absentees Martin Ødegaard, Mikel Merino and Riccardo Calafiori.

Takehiro Tomiyasu and Kieran Tierney were also ruled out.

“I didn’t enjoy [the preparation] because I didn’t sleep much,” Arteta said.

“I looked ahead to Spurs for four or five days and I had a super clear plan how to do it.

“I prepared all the meetings, the training sessions and everything. Then I get the news that we’ve lost a player, and then another player and then another player, and I had to completely change it and adapt the plan to the players that we had available. So, it was a great challenge.”