Mikel Arteta insists ‘players are not machines’ as Cristhian Mosquera and Declan Rice forced off against Brentford

It came at a cost, however, with both Cristhian Mosquera and Declan Rice forced off. The former was replaced at half-time due to a “knee or ankle” problem, while England international Rice appeared to suffer a calf issue seven minutes from the end.

On his side’s injury issues, Arteta said: “Probably it’s not one thing, but we can help the players and everybody in the league and everybody to do what we have to do.

“Give us another day and especially the teams that are playing so much in Europe. To everybody in general, I think we can do that because we’re all going to benefit from that.

Rice one of the greatest players we’ve ever seen on set pieces – Keown

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“We’ve never had such a schedule at every level, not only in the Premier League but every competition internationally as well. So we need to try to do that please.

“I think it’s common sense. At some point this becomes too much and the players are not machines. But we have to try to do that when we can.”

Arteta added that Merino, who netted his ninth goal this season in all competitions while deputising as Arsenal’s centre-forward, had eased the strain amid injuries to both of the club’s more traditional No. 9s.

“I think that’s a lesson,” he said. “And I took that lesson because the whole summer I was thinking, if we bring a nine, what was going to happen with Gabi Jesus and Kai? And I had a lot of nines.

“I just think that I like them so much as well. OK, what are we going to do? How are we going to handle it? And so far we haven’t had a problem because they’ve been injured. So live the present, live the moment and deal with the situation when it comes. That’s it.”