Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta lashed out at criticism of his team selection for their FA Cup tie against Southampton on Saturday.
The Gunners lost to the Saints that day and were dumped out of the competition after Arteta made five changes to his side.
However, they got their revenge days later with a Premier League success over the same opponent.
After Emile Smith Rowe picked up an injury during the win on Tuesday, Arteta spoke about his team selection.
Arteta said on BT Sport: "Well it's one of the reasons why we had to make changes in the cup, because we had five players that were not available to play - I want to make that clear.
"And the ones that played today, they were to play some part of the game.
"So we expect them to play without any pre-season, 50 games, every game at that age.
"I'm sorry but that is impossible and I'm not going to do that with the young players."
