West Ham United manager David Moyes has backed Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta’s team selection following the Gunners’ Carabao Cup defeat to the Hammers on Wednesday evening.
West Ham knocked Arsenal out of the Carabao Cup with a 3-1 victory at the London Stadium.
West Ham defeated Arsenal thanks to Ben White’s own goal and goals from Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen, with Martin Odegaard scoring a late consolation for the visitors.
Arteta, on the other hand, made six changes from the Arsenal team that crushed Sheffield United 5-0 in the Premier League last Saturday, with Bukayo Saka, William Saliba, and Declan Rice among those who came off the bench against Moyes’ side.
Arsenal fans chastised the Spaniard for his team selection against West Ham.
Moyes, on the other hand, believes Arteta was correct to make changes for their Carabao Cup meeting given Arsenal has two key games coming up in the next few days.
When asked about Arteta’s choice to rotate his players for the game, Moyes told reporters, “I’ve been in football that long, I’m probably one of the most experienced managers, and I think managers continue to get asked about team changes.”
“It really surprises me that you haven’t, because the journalists who cover all of the football would not say, ‘well, you’ve got 18 or 19 players in your squad who are probably good enough to play, you’ve got a lot of football to play.'”
“They have two games that are the type of questions that you wouldn’t say you would take for granted that many managers would change their team.”
“I find it quite surprising, not that you’d ask, but I’m sure you’ve all considered Arsenal has Newcastle on Saturday, then Sevilla, so they have big games coming up.”
“That is the way you see it but maybe there are bigger things they see than maybe tonight’s game.”
