Mikel Arteta Responds to New Premier League Towel Ban

Mikel Arteta has bristled at a new Premier League directive that bans players from using towels to dry the ball before taking throw-ins, calling it a major shift in how teams attack from set pieces.

Arsenal leaned heavily on the long-throw ability of Ben White and Declan Rice last season, especially in the final third. Those booming deliveries, often prepared with a careful wipe of the ball, became a key part of their armoury. That option has effectively been stripped away.

“The towels is already a big one,” Arteta said in his press conference, half-grimacing, half-grinning. Then he leaned into the absurdity of it all. “Let’s see what we do. Maybe we will play with hats on!”

Behind the joke sits a serious change in the rulebook. What used to be a murky area, handled by pre-match agreement between clubs, has been shut down. Last season’s flashpoint at Newcastle, when Riccardo Calafiori tried to use a towel near the home side’s goal only for referee Jarred Gillett to confiscate it because no agreement had been reached, has effectively become the template for the new hard line.

Now, there is no debate. No towels. No time-consuming drying rituals before a long heave into the box. One of the more theatrical, and often criticised, set-piece routines is gone.

The clampdown sits inside a wider Premier League drive to speed up the game and squeeze more actual football into the 90 minutes. Officials will work to cut out delays at every restart. Goal-kicks and throw-ins will be put under visible time pressure with countdowns. Substitutions will be tightly marshalled into defined windows to prevent drawn-out changes and slow walks to the touchline.

The medical side is being sharpened too. Outfield players who receive treatment must now remain off the pitch for at least a minute, removing the incentive for tactical collapses designed to halt momentum. If a goalkeeper needs attention, an outfield teammate will also have to leave the pitch for a minute, leaving sides temporarily short-handed if they push the limits.

Arsenal know this territory well. They have been accused of pushing the boundaries before, most notably by Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler, who took aim at David Raya after the goalkeeper went down for treatment three times during a tight 1-0 win for the Gunners.

Arteta, though, is not in rebellion. Irritated by the towel ruling, yes, but he insists Arsenal will adjust.

“We have had the Premier League and the referees there with us to explain and go through everything,” he said. “We will have to see when the season starts and how this unfolds and what is more doable and what is less doable and what we need to adapt.”

He knows the margins at the top are razor-thin. Every restart, every countdown, every forced pause will matter.

“We know that everybody is paying so much to the details, all the restarts and the countdowns, that will bring something else, a different dynamic, different momentum,” Arteta added. “So I am very curious to see. They are really good rules because what we are doing is trying to promote more game time and the fluidity of the games which is better and hopefully that will work.”

Towels are gone. Time-wasting is under the microscope. The question now is simple: in a league this tight, who adapts fastest to a faster game?