“We need to feel the pain,” Mikel Arteta said as Arsenal moved on from the 3-0 defeat away at Brighton and built towards Leeds on Saturday, October 10. Ben White, Cristhian Mosquera and Piero Hincapié were back in training, which gives the squad a useful lift before a run of nine fixtures in 27 days. The point Arteta is making is simple enough, the return to work has to come with a response.
Arteta's response message
Arteta also said: “Today we need to take this lesson very, very seriously because it's going to happen. I think we need to look at it in isolation first and get the learnings and then we can put it into the overall picture.” That sits neatly beside the training-ground news, but it is the Brighton result that has set the tone. Arsenal have won four of their last five matches in all competitions and already have 12 points from five league games, so one heavy loss has not changed the broader start.
Defensive options returning
The personnel update matters because the back line has been stretched. White has already made 4 Premier League appearances this season, while Mosquera and Hincapié have both made 2. William Saliba is in rest mode and is dealing with an aggravated injury, so the returns do not mean Arsenal are suddenly fully stocked. They do, however, give Arteta more room to manage the workload before Leeds and the next block of fixtures.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 2 outlets. How we work →
