Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta does not agree with Sam Allardyce that the Premier League should introduce a coronavirus “circuit breaker”.
The West Brom boss, whose side face the Gunners on Saturday, has suggested England’s top flight should take a two-week pause following a rise in positive tests at various clubs.
But while Arteta said he respected Allardyce’s view, he does not believe a circuit breaker is necessary.
"We are all concerned with our own health and what is going on around us,” he told reporters.
"But at the same time, with all the protocols we have in place, everything we do around the training ground, around football matches, the fact that we play our sport outdoors, it minimises the risks a lot.
"If you see the records since we began to test, it is incredibly positive and I think as long as we can, we have to keep on doing that.
"Obviously we can't put anybody at risk but I think we have shown that the system is working.
"Okay, in the last week or so something has happened and I think we will have more restrictions and more tests to try to be as efficient as we were before, but I think it can work and I think we can carry on doing it."
Arteta also believes football has served a vital purpose throughout the pandemic.
"Well, the importance of football in this society is massive I think," he added.
"When you ask and you talk to people and discuss what it means to have football games in this difficult period for everybody where there is not so much to do, I think it's really, really important and what we have to do is just try to do it in a safe way, as we have been doing recently. I think there are many, many positives."
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