Lineker Smells a Rat: Arteta Playing the Ferguson Card in Arsenal's Title Push

Gary Lineker reckons Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta is working the refs' room—or rather, the injury list—in a bid to protect his title-chasing squad, drawing parallels to Sir Alex Ferguson's legendary approach to international football.

With the Gunners sitting pretty nine points clear at the summit and seven matches remaining, Manchester City lurking with a game in hand after their recent Carabao Cup final triumph over Arsenal, every player and every fixture takes on added weight. But it's the sudden spate of international withdrawals that's caught Lineker's eye.

Martin Zubimendi and Piero Hincapie have become the latest names to pull out of their national team duties, joining a growing list of ten Arsenal players sidelined by injuries. Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice have both withdrawn from England's squad, alongside William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes and several others.

Speaking on his The Rest is Football podcast, Lineker didn't mince words: "I think Arteta is playing a Sir Alex role here."

Ferguson's reputation for persuading United players to skip friendly internationals is well-documented, though Lineker acknowledged such pressure isn't unique to the Old Trafford legend. "All managers have done that but generally it's down to the players," he explained. "The 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."

Yet Alan Shearer offered a more sympathetic reading of events. "It's not surprising, it happens and it goes on," the former striker said. "You've got to look at it from his point of view, the club's point of view. They're looking at it and trying to make history. That's fine and you've got the right to do that as a player."

Shearer noted that both Rice and Saka were unlikely to miss significant minutes in friendlies anyway, with Madueke also withdrawing injured.

England manager Thomas Tuchel moved swiftly to settle the narrative, insisting the decisions were medically sound rather than club-driven. "They had a medical assessment and wanted desperately to play," Tuchel stated. "Let's get the narrative straight, they wanted desperately to be involved. But it made no sense to take this risk."

He added: "If 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. The risk for making it worse was just way too big. They were both in discomfort, clear discomfort."

Arsenal face Southampton in the FA Cup this Saturday, and no doubt several of these supposedly sidelined stars will be ready to roll.