Arteta Advocates for Premier League Rule Change

Mikel Arteta wants the Premier League to rip up one of its long-standing rules and fall into line with Europe.

Fresh from Arsenal’s 3-0 Community Shield win over Manchester City in Cardiff, the conversation around his team quickly drifted away from the pitch. The scoreline was emphatic. The squad list was ruthless.

Big win, big omissions

Some absences were straightforward. William Saliba and Jurrien Timber are both injured, with Timber still travelling to Cardiff to be with the group. No mystery there.

Illan Meslier was also in the stadium but not on the bench, acting as the third-choice goalkeeper. In domestic football, that’s normal. With only 20 players allowed in a Premier League matchday squad – 11 starters and nine substitutes – the third keeper often ends up in the stands.

In UEFA competitions, it’s different. Clubs can name 23 players. There is room for the third goalkeeper and extra outfield options. Meslier’s situation on Sunday underlined the contrast.

Arsenal lived that split reality last season. Young goalkeeper Tommy Setford regularly travelled for domestic games, joined the warm-ups, then disappeared from the official squad list. On Champions League nights, right up to the semi-final, his name was there.

Against Manchester City, the squeeze was even more brutal. Beyond Meslier, Arteta had to exclude Gabriel Martinelli, Ethan Nwaneri, Gabriel Jesus, Fabio Vieira, and Reiss Nelson from the squad entirely. Under UEFA rules, at least two of them could have been on the bench.

For a club chasing trophies on multiple fronts, that is not a small detail. It shapes careers, minutes, and moods.

Arteta’s push for change

Arteta has decided he’s had enough of simply working around the rule. He wants it changed.

"I've been trying to persuade the Premier League and the clubs to be able to extend the number of players that we can have, especially the outfield players in the squads, because we play more and more games and the load is unreal," he said after the game.

He didn’t dress it up as a minor gripe. He called it what it is for a manager with a deep, expensive squad: a constant selection headache with no good answer.

"It's just a shame (to leave players out), so it's the most difficult part of the job. It's just a fact that we can bring 18 outfield players and we believe that for today's game these were the options that we needed, especially with the physical condition of certain players."

The logic is clear. More games. Heavier schedules. Players coming back from injury, or managing knocks, or needing minutes. Yet the matchday cap remains stuck at 20.

UEFA has already moved. European nights allow 23-man squads. England’s top flight, for all its financial muscle, is lagging behind on something as basic as the size of the bench.

The looming divide

Arteta’s stance won’t go unchallenged.

Smaller clubs are likely to push back, arguing that an expanded bench hands even more power to the elite. If Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and others can throw on fresh internationals from positions 20, 21 and 22 in the squad, how do teams with thinner resources compete?

Some sides simply don’t have 23 fully fit senior players they trust. For them, the rule change might feel cosmetic at best, damaging at worst.

But the landscape of the league has shifted. Almost half of the Premier League now plays in Europe each season. Those clubs are already working to a 23-man standard on continental nights, then compressing their options when they return to domestic duty.

The inconsistency is stark. On a Wednesday, a young player or returning senior might be in the Champions League squad. On a Sunday, the same player could be back in the stands, a victim of the numbers rather than the manager’s faith.

Arteta is not just fighting for the right to name a third goalkeeper. He is pushing for flexibility, for protection against overload, for the chance to involve more of his squad in the rhythm of the season.

If the Premier League listens, touchline decisions and late-game substitutions could look very different. If it doesn’t, managers like Arteta will keep turning away fit, ready players at the stadium door, knowing they were only ever beaten by a rulebook, not by form.