Arteta calls on Premier League to increase bench numbers | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has urged the Premier League to increase the number of outfield players allowed on the matchday bench, arguing the current rules make squad management and player welfare harder to protect.

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Arsenal head into the trip to Leeds United in an unusual position, with only one injury in the squad, 16-year-old Max Dowman.

Injuries have defined recent seasons as much as the club’s run of three second-place league finishes, and this campaign has been no different. After 23 gameweeks and 35 matches in all competitions, only David Raya, Mikel Merino and Myles Lewis-Skelly have been available for every game.

That improved fitness picture has created a different challenge for Arteta, with players having to be left out of matchday squads despite the club being permitted a 25-man senior group.

Speaking ahead of the Leeds game, the Arsenal manager made a direct appeal for a change to the regulations.

“At the moment, there are two or three players that have to be out of the squad,” he said when asked about having to leave the likes of Christian Norgaard out.

Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

“That’s a reality. I cannot change that. These are the rules, hopefully the Premier League next season, instead of 18 outfield players, it will be 20.

“I beg them from here, like it is in the Champions League, because it’s much better to manage the squad, to maintain the value of the players, to maintain the mental health of the players, because nobody wants to be out of the squad.

“So I beg them that if we can, between all of us, help us on that, we can deal with hotels, travels and all that, and that will be very, very helpful for everybody, because that’s the worst thing when you need to leave somebody [out].”

At the end of 2025, it was reported that informal discussions took place at the European Football Clubs’ (EFC) general assembly in Rome about increasing squad numbers from 25 to 28.

With Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City, Man United and Nottingham Forest all in attendance from the Premier League, clubs also discussed changing the number of permitted subs from five to six.