Thomas Tuchel fires dig at Mikel Arteta over Arsenal player management with fitness and injury concerns

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England take on Latvia on Monday night, and Thomas Tuchel is expected to name Declan Rice in his starting line-up for the second game running.

Rice and Myles Lewis-Skelly starred in England’s win over Albania on Friday, with the latter scoring on his international debut.

The teenager was withdrawn in the 90th minute by Tuchel, while Rice was hooked in the 82nd minute for Jordan Henderson.

Arsenal have 14 players on international duty, almost all of whom are playing substantial roles for their country ahead of Mikel Arteta’s team’s intense run-in.

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Thomas Tuchel fires dig at Mikel Arteta

The issue of fixture congestion and overburdening players with minutes is always a prevalent discussion point when the international break rolls around.

Player welfare is questioned, as club managers and national team managers go into battle over the matter.

Tuchel raised the topic when speaking to the media ahead of the Three Lions’ World Cup qualifier against Latvia, stressing that he won’t be rotating his squad for the benefit of clubs.

“Given the fact Declan Rice played after a 7-1 first leg the next match with Arsenal, I didn’t have the feeling that they think so much about us,” Tuchel said, referencing Rice starting the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 tie against PSV.

“So I don’t think we have to break our heads about this. I take care of the players. We take care about the schedule.

“But it would be the wrong signal to tell players: ‘You have tough matches coming up so I rest you.’ We have a qualifier to play, we do what’s good for us, we monitor them, we are in contact with the clubs and we won’t take unprofessional risks.

“I feel responsible for the players. I don’t want the player to be injured, I want the players to play quarter‑finals of the Champions League because I want to watch it.

“We take care about us and the clubs take care about themselves and the main focus is taking care of the players.”

Declan Rice’s career minutes statistics

Indeed, Rice started against PSV despite Arsenal holding a 7-1 advantage heading into the second leg earlier this month.

Arteta clearly felt he didn’t have the options available to him to rest the Englishman, who has played significant minutes in every season throughout his career to date.

Playing over 3,000 total minutes every campaign since the 2018/19 season, Rice has been burdened with over 4,000 minutes in each of the last three seasons.

This is bound to take its toll eventually, and arguably did so earlier this term.

Rice was out of form in the early parts of this campaign, clearly feeling the effects of playing almost every minute for England in the Euros.

This will need to be more carefully managed if he’s to maintain his exceptional levels.