Fuming Mikel Arteta issues sarcastic response to Arsenal's fixture request being REJECTED with Gunners facing two matches in three days just hours before Christmas Eve

Mikel Arteta has urged the footballing authorities to 'respect' Arsenal over player safety fears after his club's request to move their Carabao Cup quarter-final clash against Crystal Palace was denied.

It was confirmed on Monday that the Gunners will play Palace at the Emirates on Tuesday December 23 at 8pm — even though the fixture was originally designated to fall on either Tuesday December 16 or Wednesday December 17.

Arsenal had formally requested for the match to be played on December 16, with the new date just 53 hours after they kick-off against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday December 21.

The north London club are currently missing up to seven players through injury. Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz are all side-lined with knee injuries, while Viktor Gyokeres has a muscular issue sustained from the 2-0 victory over Burnley on Saturday.

Martin Zubimendi and Kepa Arrizabalaga have unspecified issues.

Arteta hinted Arsenal have asked the Premier League to reschedule the Everton fixture to give his players sufficient rest amid a jam-packed schedule. 

Ahead of Arsenal's Champions League tie against Slavia Prague on Tuesday, he said: 'We have seven players out, eh? So I don't know what (squad) depth we're talking about now because we're missing a lot of players, a lot of front players.

'If we continue to do that (play) every three days… we want respecting again. What we discussed previously, that in our opinion is the most important part.

'Hopefully they will move (our) Premier League match because to play to this date doesn't make any sense, obviously. So we will now decide the date. I'm sure they will change the Premier League date as well.

'I'm sure we will apply the principles of first of all the players, then the supporters, and then the times that we need to have equality and the same chances for every club. So hopefully it will be fair.'

Meanwhile, the Spaniard is concerned over Gyokeres' injury. The striker did not travel to Prague or train at London Colney on Monday morning.

Arteta added: 'He's definitely not available (for Slavia Prague). He hasn't trained today. We need to do some more tests and scans in the next few days to understand the extent of the injury. But he's not available.

'I am concerned because he hasn't had many muscular issues and he had to do the pitch and he was feeling something.

'That's obviously never a good sign, especially for a player that is very, very explosive. So we are digging in a little bit more to understand where we are in terms of the injury, and we'll announce the moment we know.'