Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has hinted teams could voluntarily drop out of competitions if the fixture lists continue to expand.

You have to go back to 2000 to find the last time a club willingly pulled out of a competition as Manchester United withdrew from the FA Cup in order to play in the Club World Championship, but the possibility of it happening again has been raised as more is increasingly asked of players.

Should a club progress to the final of every competition then they could face around 100 matches a season, while Fifpro has previously suggested it be limited to 55 matches over a season.

That subject was put to Arteta ahead of this weekend’s matches, and he said that player welfare and supporters should be the priority.

“Every decision that we make in terms of a fixture has to be guided on two main things I think: players’ welfare and then supporters,” he said.

“That’s it, and the rest has to come very, very far away from that and we should never forget that principle. That’s the only thing I will say.”

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Arteta was then asked if teams could drop out of tournaments in the future and while he said his “hope” is that it does not come to that, he did concede it was a possibility.

“I hope we don’t, if we have that big piece of paper with those two principles there in front before we make any decision, all of us in our industry, we won’t get there.

“If we don’t and we just ignore that, then anything is possible.”

Arteta has arguably the best squad of his Arsenal tenure this season and was also asked if leaving players out was the hardest part of the job.

“No, I cannot say that. It is the worst part in terms of the decision with certain players when you don’t allow them to play, which is the hardest part in our job,” he said.

“But they acknowledge that as well and at the end, when they make decisions, some good, some bad, I’m not judging every decision that they make, we cannot do that.

“So the other way around, this cannot happen, so at the moment, we are dealing with it in a really positive way, and you can see the consequences of that in the impact that every player that is not playing is having, and when they have to play, the way they are performing, and you only do that with good preparation and good mental state.

“It’s an education that you probably get since you are young and you decide to play football. You know that there are 11 players playing and then another 10 or 12 that are not going to start the game, that doesn’t mean they are not going to be important for the team.

“So hopefully that’s an education that all of us got with the right coaches very early in our careers.

“If I have to do that right now, obviously it will be difficult, and just try to do it with an open heart, understanding that you care about them and you want the best and they will have their moments and then try to be as fair as possible when you see certain behaviours and that willingness to play, give them the opportunity to play.”

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