Antonio Conte hits back at Mikel Arteta’s moan about Arsenal’s ‘unfair’ fixture pile-up

Antonio Conte believes Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have no grounds for complaint about fixtures after asking for the North London derby to be postponed earlier this year.

Arsenal asked for the January fixture to re-arranged due to their issues at the time with Covid, injuries and players on international duty.

A new date for the game has yet to be confirmed and Arteta has already hit out at the Premier League for their scheduling after handing Arsenal two Saturday lunchtime kick-offs following Wednesday night games in their remaining 11 games.

Arteta displayed his dissatisfaction at Arsenal’s rearranged games after the defeat to Liverpool

The decision to request the North London derby postponement sparked fury at Spurs with Arsenal having just one confirmed Covid case at the time and injuries and call-ups issues all top clubs have to deal with a not considered a worthy reason to ask for a game to be postponed.

Conte, subsequently, had little sympathy for Spurs’s biggest rivals Arsenal.

He said: ‘I only want to remember [remind] Arteta [about] the game that we postponed – Tottenham v Arsenal, okay? Yes, If we speak about fair or unfair, okay, and, I stop.

‘In general I think my answer is enough. Okay? It is enough. If someone want to speak about fair or unfair. We postponed a game Tottenham v Arsenal, if you remember.

January’s north London derby was postponed after Arsenal put in a request to Premier League

‘I don’t forget this and I think it is not right to speak about fair or unfair.’  

Asked if he was concerned by when the clash will be rearranged for during Friday’s press conference, Arteta replied: ‘Yes. Because I don’t know and we’re not going to be deciding and it is going to be very important.’

When asked if he would be speaking to top-flight bosses about the issue, he said: ‘That is nothing to do with me. The club has to arrange that.’