Mikel Arteta has revealed why he took Gabriel Jesus off at half-time of Arsenal's Europa League elimination against Sporting.
Jesus made his first start since his World Cup injury, but the Gunners lost on penalties after only 45 minutes of play.
Due to Gabriel Martinelli's missed penalty, Arsenal was eliminated after the round of 16 and can now only concentrate on the Premier League championship battle.
After the game, Arteta told the club media that he had to make a hasty decision on Jesus during the break due to more injury blows.
Arteta was asked if Jesus’ substitution was planned and said: “Yeah.
“And we decided to do that because we had to manage the subs and thank God that we took him out, especially after the two (substitution) windows that we had to use in the first half."
Jesus' recovery has been carefully orchestrated, and Arsenal appeared to believe that it was preferable to remove him a little early than anticipated than to run the risk of having him play 90 or 120 minutes before he was ready.
This weekend, the Gunners will welcome Crystal Palace in their comeback to the Premier League.
Arteta added: “But that was the plan and he was coming from an injury as well. We knew the game could go to extra time and we have to manage that and he looked okay.”
Despite the fact that Patrick Vieira was fired as Palace's manager earlier today.
Since Manchester City, which is currently in second position, will be facing Burnley in the FA Cup this weekend, Arsenal will be looking to increase their advantage to eight points with a victory against the Eagles.
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