Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insisted on Monday his team were not favoured by the fixture programme following comments from Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho the Gunners had a certain “influence” over the schedule.
“It is simple – look at the fixtures and analyse it. I trust you will give an objective view,” Wenger said.
“You will see Arsenal are behind all the other teams. In the last five years all the objective studies that have been made show Arsenal had less rest than any other team in the top four,” the Frenchman added.
“That is fact. It has nothing to do with my opinion. It is an independent company that made [the study] that shows Arsenal had less rest than any other team in the top level.”
Wenger’s comments came after reports Arsenal had commissioned their own internal analysis of their fixture schedule.
The Gunners boss cited a hectic pre-Christmas programme when they played Manchester City on a Saturday lunchtime following a middweek Champions League trip to Napoli, both of which saw Arsenal beaten.