Gary Neville ‘staggered’ by Arsenal’s decision to travel to Manchester so close to kick-off
Gary Neville has admitted Arsenal‘s travel plans left him ‘staggered’ after they flew to Manchester just three hours before kick-off against City on Wednesday night.
Mikel Arteta’s squad enjoyed a pre-match meal at Stansted Airport before flying up north just after 5pm in horrific weather conditions to take on Pep Guardiola‘s side.
Their match at the Etihad Stadium kicked off at 8:15pm and was a sodden affair thanks to dreadful stormy conditions around Manchester all evening.
Gary Neville was ‘staggered’ by Arsenal’s call to fly to Manchester three hours before kick off
Keeper Emiliano Martínez (left) posted this picture with Gabriel Martinelli (right) on the flight
Speaking on Sky Sports’ commentary with Martin Tyler, Neville admitted he could not believe the decision was taken to fly so close to kick-off.
He said: ‘I was staggered when I heard their travel plans, I’ve got to be honest.
‘A plane three hours before kick-off, I was thinking more the risk of the weather we’ve got at the moment, the storm.’
Neville also speculated that flying at that time could have caused physical issues with the players after the Gunners lost both Granit Xhaka and Pablo Mari to injury inside the first 20 minutes.
He added: ‘Obviously I don’t think it’s ideal to fly on a plane three hours before kick-off.
‘It was the time of the travel that I was most alarmed about, so close to kick-off.’
Flight records show Arsenal’s plane took off from Stansted at 5.03pm and landed in Manchester at 5.38pm.
Their plane, an Avro RJ85 which seats up to 112 people, then moved to Liverpool John Lennon Airport between 6.39pm and 6.54pm.
Arteta’s side travelled to Merseyside to catch their flight home, taking off at 12.54am on Thursday morning and landing back at Stansted at 1.31am.
Neville speculated that flying at that time could have caused physical issues with the players
The Gunners lost both Granit Xhaka (pictured) and Pablo Mari to injury in the first 20 minutes
Writing in The Times, former Ireland striker Tony Cascerino also claimed the late flight was not ideal before such a big game.
He wrote: ‘Apparently Arsenal’s flight left Stansted only about three hours before the match at the Etihad Stadium, which is leaving it really late in the day — any hiccup and you are getting very close to kick-off.
‘It’s hard to be sure whether that was a factor in two of their players suffering early injuries, but I don’t think it was ideal preparation.’
Xhaka left on a stretcher after an early injury, while Mari pulled up midway through the first half as he also saw his return to action halted.
‘They are getting assessed at the moment and we will know something more probably tomorrow morning,’ Arteta said afterwards. ‘Pablo’s one did not look really good, to be fair.’
Raheem Sterling opened the scoring in a routine home victory for City, with Kevin De Bruyne’s penalty and Phil Foden’s late strike completing a 3-0 win.
David Luiz was also sent off on a miserable night for Arsenal, after he gifted City their first goal and conceded penalty for the second.
Fans on social media also took aim at the Gunners for their less-than-ideal pre-match preparations.
@LeeTurn71 was one of those, posting: ‘Arsenal are like the richest pub team ever. Catch a flight three hours from KO against current Champions, two players go down injured clearly not prepared for this game and I thought were the first team back in training. Become a joke of a club. Likely to lose best player’.
@ioreilly85 added: ‘A flight 3 hours before a big match surely would’t help players. Two injuries already for Arsenal’.
@glennebrey tweeted: ‘The fact Arsenal got a 5pm flight up from Stansted for this game seems nuts… but I guess they can’t really go anywhere if they get there earlier, can they? Apart from just arriving at the ground ultra early.’
