Mikel Arteta has named two Arsenal players who are ‘constantly targeted’ and has responded to his team being compared to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
The Gunners boss has faced the media ahead of their Premier League clash against Wolves at Molineux on Saturday as they aim to get back to winning ways.
Arsenal crashed out of the Champions League to Bayern Munich on Wednesday and also suffered a blow to their top-flight title hopes after losing to Aston Villa.
Arteta has provided two key reasons for Arsenal’s drop in performances and was also forced to defend his management of the squad in Friday’s press conference.
But that was not all the Spaniard had to say as he was quizzed about two specific stars and asked about his side being likened to fellow title challengers Liverpool.
Arteta vows to ‘help’ Arsenal duo
Mikel Arteta spoke about adapting key pair Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, who he feels are being ‘targeted’ by rival teams.
‘They are constantly targeted like all the best players, like any other opponent,’ Arteta said.
‘We always try to find ways to prepare the games to try to help them.
‘If they try to do certain things to stop us, to find other ways, spaces, combinations, this is a journey because there’s always something that they try and you have to adapt it and make it work.’
Arsenal on similar journey to Liverpool?
Quizzed if Arsenal were on a similar journey to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool, Arteta said: ‘Well, you know that the better you become and the closer you are to fighting with the best teams that this league have ever had, not now, but in the history of the Premier League, you know what the margins are.
‘And we’ve been at the top for many, many months in the 24 months, there is only one way or two that you can, you stay there or you go down.
‘There’s only one winner, so if you want to be in that mix, you have to cope with any situation that comes attached to that, because not everything is a disappointment, but if you want to not be in the Champions League for seven years, to fight for the league two years in a row, tell me a team that has done that?’
Arteta explains Arsenal’s huge blip
Mikel Arteta has insisted that Arsenal were the ‘better team’ in their second-leg defeat to Bayern Munich and should have walked away with victory.
‘It’s what it is,’ Arteta added. ‘We have to accept it. Especially the Bayern one at home in the beginning it could’ve been very different.
‘Even away I think we were the better team, we should’ve won the game, we didn’t and in the second half we paid the price for that with the chances that we gave them basically and we have to move from there.
‘We don’t have to talk too much, it’s about showing against Wolves what we are made of to turn this situation around and it can look really positive.’
Arteta calls for key Premier League change
Mikel Arteta wants the Premier League to copy the Bundesliga and give English teams more rest before crucial Champions League games.
‘When you look at the schedule that Bayern had and we had, and the amount of games that they play, and they rest ten players nine days ago, and then rest three days before the game, another nine players, this is different,’ he said.
‘But in these leagues, they do what they do, which is they cancel the games, or they bring them forward to have more rest for the Champions League.
‘And we are not doing that, and we’re putting even more and more pressure on ourselves. This is what we have, it’s not an excuse, it’s a reality.
‘I think you want to compete in the same condition. I think we should be able to have at least the same amount of recovery between games. That’s at least something that we can do.’
Arteta hails Gary O’Neil’s Wolves
Mikel Arteta has heaped praise on Wolves and their manager Gary O’Neil ahead of their Premier League meeting this weekend.
‘Unbelievable, so good,’ Arteta said when asked about the job O’Neil has done at Molineux.
‘And you can tell how well they are coached, the spirit of the team, the difficulty that they create against every opponent, really good side and it will be really tough tomorrow, we have prepared really good in that last two days, we had a great training session today.’
Arteta sends message to Arsenal squad
Mikel Arteta has sent a message to his squad after suffering back-to-back defeats which saw them crash out of Europe and boost Manchester City in the title race.
‘Fully behind them,’ Arteta added. ‘Thank you so much for the journey we are having together, thank you so much for being in April, the quarter-final of the Champions League and being so close.
‘Competing against the best team in the history of the Premier League and the best team in the last eight years in this competition with Liverpool and to be there with a chance to win it. So thank you so much to everything they have done because it’s unbelievable.’
Arteta provides update on Jurrien Timber
Mikel Arteta also provided an injury update on defender Jurrien Timber, who joined the club last summer but has missed almost the entire season.
‘[The game against Wolves] is too soon,’ Arteta said about Timber’s possible return.
‘He’s going to play a game with the under-21s and after that we will see better where he is, how he felt. He looks really good in training but it’s that last step now. We need to have the certainty that he’s ready to go.’
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