"We take care of the schedule" - England coach Thomas Tuchel takes subtle swipe at Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta

Thomas Tuchel has taken a cheeky dig at Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and claimed that he would take care of England players in their busy schedules. He said that he would not rest a player because of an upcoming club match as they need to focus on their qualifiers as well.

Speaking to the media, Tuchel hinted that Arsenal were overusing Declan Rice. He pointed out that they didn't rest the midfielder when the West Ham United star should have sat out of the second leg against PSV Eindhoven. The Gunners won the first leg 7-1 but Rice still played 64 minutes in the second leg. Tuchel said via GOAL:

"Given the fact Declan Rice played in the next [Champions League] match after a 7-1 first leg [win] with Arsenal, I didn’t have the feeling that they think so much about us. So I don’t think we have to break our heads about this [keeping clubs happy]. I take care of the players. We take care of the schedule. But it would be the wrong signal to tell players now ‘hey, you have tough [club] matches coming up so I rest you now’."

"We have a qualifier to play, we do what's good for us. We monitor them, we are in contact with the clubs, we are in high-level monitoring where the statuses are known and we won’t take any unprofessional risks. Because first of all, I feel responsible for the players. I don't want the player to be injured, I want the players to play in the quarter-finals of the Champions League – all of them – because I want to watch it, I want to see it. So this is where it is and in the end, we take care of ourselves and the clubs take care of themselves, and the main focus is taking care of the players."

England face Latvia next in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers on Monday at Wembley. They won their first match under Thomas Tuchel with a 2-0 scoreline when they faced Albania last week.

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England manager recalls not talking to national team coaches while he was working with clubs

England boss Thomas Tuchel has said that he never pushed any national team manager to rest his player while he was working in club football. He claimed that no one can predict injuries and said via GOAL:

"I never pushed any national coach because I was hoping that my players get picked. I was also hoping that they are proud to play. Of course, you’re never happy if something happens. No one can predict that there is no accident, but we have a World Cup qualifier and we’ll make responsible decisions."

Thomas Tuchel managed Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), and Bayern Munich along with Borussia Dortmund before taking up the England job.