Mikel Arteta refused to let external storylines dictate Arsenal\u2019s mood after a run of results elsewhere in the Premier League. He acknowledged the \u201cnarrative\u201d around Liverpool\u2019s four straight defeats but insisted his squad have shown no obvious change in demeanour following their recent win over Fulham.<\/p>\n
The manager stressed the context of Arsenal\u2019s recent victories, noting they have come against sides that took points from his team last season, which only adds to their value. Still, Arteta is careful about reading too much into an autumn run of form and wants standards to remain the determining factor.<\/p>\n
Ahead of Arsenal\u2019s Champions League clash with Atl\u00e9tico Madrid on Tuesday night, with two days to let Saturday\u2019s victory over Fulham settle, Arteta was asked whether his players had an extra spring in their step. \u201cI haven\u2019t noticed that,\u201d he assured assembled reporters, \u201cbut obviously, there is a lot of narrative afterwards.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that\u2019s it,\u201d Arteta continued, \u201cevery game in this league is a must-win and a very difficult game to win, and we\u2019re all very appreciative of that, so you don\u2019t get carried away with any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arteta drew on recent title history to underline how fragile leads can be. Arsenal spent 248 days in first place during the 2022\u201323 campaign yet still finished second to Manchester City, and they finished second again at the end of 2023\u201324 despite leading the league with just a fortnight to play.<\/p>\n
He also refused to be distracted by comparisons with last season, observing that there was a larger gap up to Liverpool last term and that Slot\u2019s side are \u201cfar from the polished machine of last year,\u201d yet he remained stoic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that I embrace is when I see the team, the energy, the temperature, the commitment and the quality that they can deliver, that it gives me that conviction that we can go all the way,\u201d he fired back at a press pack eager for a foolhardy declaration of triumph. \u201cBut that\u2019s it, that\u2019s just a feeling that the next day you have to prove it, the next training session you have to prove it and nothing else, and we cannot be busy thinking about those topics.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Arteta downplayed any extra bounce after Fulham, warned about narrative and insisted on focus today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[192,1035,969],"tags":[1081,1047],"class_list":["post-3937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arsenal","category-atletico-madrid","category-premier-league","tag-adaptation","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}