\n<\/p>\n
Gary Lineker claims Mikel Arteta is \u201cplaying a Sir Alex (Ferguson) role\u201d in a bid to gain an advantage for Arsenal in their bid to win the Premier League title.<\/p>\n
The Gunners are nine points clear at the top of the table<\/strong> with seven games to play but second-placed Manchester City have a game in hand and will have been boosted by their victory over Mikel Arteta\u2019s side in the Carabao Cup final before the international break.<\/p>\n The majority of the Arsenal players will now be licking their wounds back home as Martin Zubimendi and Piero Hincapie became the latest in a group of 10 players to have pulled out of their international squads through injury.<\/p>\n READ MORE: England: Lineker slams Tuchel for \u2018insulting\u2019 White decision amid \u2018personal\u2019 issue with Alexander-Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n But Lineker reckons there\u2019s skullduggery at play and suggests a fair few will be back fit in time for Arsenal\u2019s FA Cup clash with Southampton on Saturday.<\/p>\n \u201cInterestingly a couple of Arsenal players have pulled out of this squad now. Both (Bukayo) Saka and Declan Rice have gone,\u201d Lineker told his The Rest is Football podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cThey joined people like (William) Saliba and Gabriel (Magalhaes) and one or two other players. I think Arteta is playing a Sir Alex role here.\u201d<\/p>\n Ferguson was frequently said to have piled pressure on his Manchester United players to miss friendlies for their countries.<\/p>\n \u201cAll managers have done that but generally it\u2019s down to the players,\u201d Lineker added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe manager would always pressure you to pull out of friendlies in particular. It happened to me a couple of times and on both occasions I said no chance.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE: PL told to ban ten Arsenal stars under \u2018new rule\u2019 with rage-bait presented as genuine disdain<\/strong><\/p>\n Fellow pundit Alan Shearer understands the stance of Arteta and his players.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cIt\u2019s not surprising, it happens and it goes on. You\u2019ve got to look at it from his point of view, the club\u2019s point of view. I guess they\u2019re looking at it and trying to make history.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s fine and you\u2019ve got the right to do that as a player.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are both friendlies and if there are two that are pretty much guaranteed a place in the squad as Rice and Saka are, Madueke has pulled out as well with injury.\u201d<\/p>\n Providing an update on Saka and Rice, manager Thomas Tuchel looked to \u201cset the narrative straight\u201d.<\/p>\n Tuchel said<\/strong>: \u201cThey had a medical assessment and wanted desperately to play. Let\u2019s get the narrative straight, they wanted desperately to be involved. But it made no sense to take this risk.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it would have been the last game of the season then maybe we would have kept them and tried everything, but at this moment of the season it did not make sense.<\/p>\n \u201cThe risk for making it worse was just way too big. They were both in discomfort, clear discomfort, so it make absolutely no sense that they stayed.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/div>\n