Can Mikel Arteta ensure Arsenal side rise to big occasions throughout season?

National World - LocalTV

Mikel Arteta has built a squad full of quality and depth, but the challenge now is to turn promise into silverware. Last season’s strong run showed they can go toe-to-toe with the very best — yet maintaining that intensity over the full campaign remains the final hurdle. To gauge the mood around the Emirates, we spoke to Jack Abela of LondonWorld.

Transcript

00:00With the new Premier League season here, attention is turning to whether Arsenal's star players

00:08can step up and mount a sustained push for the title.

00:13Mikel Arteta has built a squad full of quality and depth, but the challenge now is to turn

00:17promise into silverware.

00:20Last season's strong run showed they could go toe-to-toe with the very best, yet maintaining

00:25that intensity over a full campaign remains the final hurdle.

00:30While some new arrivals have added fresh energy, much will depend on Arsenal's existing core,

00:37delivering in the biggest moments and showing the resilience needed when the pressure rises.

00:43To gauge the mood around the Emirates, we spoke to Jacobello of London World, who believes

00:47there's a growing sense that this could be their season, that Arsenal's key men finally

00:53carry the title race all the way.

00:58And just on Arsenal, in terms of maybe, do you feel there could be a bit of a mentality

01:03shift, this time off could be used to address those issues?

01:07You know, they've had some very, very poor nights, you know, the FA Cup game at home against

01:12Man United, the League Cup loss against Newcastle at home.

01:16These are games where you just feel that Arsenal need to start getting over the line in to really

01:21make sure they are competing in more finals moving forward.

01:25And then you obviously have the whole debate with the results that the Etihad over the last

01:30few years and how Arsenal have been celebrating draws.

01:33I mean, to bridge that gap to become champions, you don't want to celebrate draws.

01:36You want to make sure you do go to these places and get wins.

01:40You need to just sort of, do you feel that needs to be the mentality shift this year?

01:43And Arteta might need to just sort of let the reins go a bit and go and get these massive

01:50wins at Anfield, at the Etihad, you know, at Stamford Bridge, for example.

01:54These big places you've got to go as champions, you do expect them to go and win.

01:59Yeah, no.

02:00I mean, well, we saw in the Amazon documentary a few seasons ago that when Arteta loses a

02:05Dewell, he's very upset, isn't he?

02:08So I have no doubt that he will be coming back with a real kind of maybe like a vengeful

02:16attitude, really.

02:17I think Arsenal will look at last season as a, not a missed opportunity, but they would

02:24have wanted to be the team that would have capitalised when City weren't at it.

02:28And I think the two seasons previous, Arsenal had came very close to winning the league in

02:36Haddon and were pipped by City.

02:38And I think maybe last season that took a bit of a mental toll on them.

02:43I think because they weren't really close last season, this season might just be about coming

02:49back with a bit more anger and a bit more purpose.

02:54Hopefully that anger doesn't result in any more red cards.

02:56But I have no doubt that they will come back fighting this season.

03:01And I think, yes, we haven't announced those signings, made those signings yet.

03:06But I think, you know, the players that we've even been linked with in the talks does seem

03:11like the club want to do something more than they did last summer.

03:16Last summer, the links weren't even there, which was slightly worrying.

03:19So I'm hoping that Arsenal, with the signings they make and that kind of, you know, mentality

03:25that Arteta, I think, does bring will help Arsenal get over the line next season.

03:33But it's, yeah, it's going to be a tough one.

03:35I think it's important to mention, yes, Arsenal shouldn't celebrate draws against these big

03:40teams now, for sure.

03:42But Arsenal are, I forget the exact statistics now, but they are unbeaten against the top

03:48six in, you know, I think it's like two or three seasons.

03:52And that is a big achievement.

03:54You know, Arsenal, where they've really, you know, let themselves down last season is dropping

04:00points to the smaller teams that they couldn't break down that low block.

04:04And that's what they really need to work on, in my opinion, next season.

04:07Yeah, don't celebrate the draws as much, you know, next season.

04:11Arsenal's issues against low blocks last season came just, they weren't just creating that

04:16spark and it felt like all that creative pressure was on Odegaard.

04:21And I think Eze would bring an extra creative outlet in the centre of the pitch and then

04:26he'd also solve problems out wide as well.

04:29So for me, you know, the fact that Arsenal have been linked with Eze, he doesn't really

04:32seem like an Arteta kind of player, but maybe that's Arteta understanding he needs to

04:38be a bit less rigid and have a few more creative players in the squad.

04:42And to me, that's a really exciting development.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended