Mikel Arteta admits that Arsenal’s season is facing a make or break five weeks with the club facing huge games against Spurs and Everton in the Premier League and a Champions League double-header with Bayern Munich.
Also set to showdown with Blackburn in the FA Cup this Saturday and against a struggling Aston Villa side, the Spaniard outlined the determination to secure Champions League qualification as the camp prepare for a tough run.
“This next month is the month, it’s crucial,” said the midfielder after the 1-0 win against Sunderland.
“Everything can look brighter at the end of it or really, really bad.”
“We’re a massive club and we never want to be out of the Champions League. Ten years ago it was easier to get into the top four. There are so many more sides out there with equal spending power now.
“There’s been a big improvement in English football; there’s no other league in Europe where it’s as hard to get into the Champions League.”
Meanwhile, Emmanuel Frimpong says he’s taking inspiration from Jack Wilshere’s recovery from injury as he looks to make his mark on loan at Fulham before returning to North London in the summer.
The enforcer, who has already spent time with Charlton this season, played 64 minutes for the Cottagers at the weekend as Martin Jol’s side drew 0-0 with Norwich.
“The boss at Arsenal, Mr Wenger, told me to come here and get some games because there is no point sitting on the bench at Arsenal,” he told Sky Sports.
“He said to come here and show what you can do, get some games under your belt, then come back next season and see what happens.
“Sometimes you are going to get good luck, sometimes you are going to get bad luck, and I have had loads of injuries, but I mean to get over it just like Jack has.
“He has got over his injury and now he is playing for England. That is what I trying and do – to get over my injuries and start playing football on a regular basis.”
“Jack is a great footballer. For his age and for what he is doing, he is an inspiration obviously because every young player in the Premier League wants to achieve what he is doing.”
Arse
nal
, always better than Spurs.
with that attitude I dont see no reason why frimpong cant succeed at arsenal.
A little bit of growing up and little less DENCH he could be a great asset for us.
Having a true gooners in our team is what I think we’ve been missing in recent years and now we have plenty, all with shiny new contracts to boot.
Arteta’s words as accurate as his passing.
comment award
No kidding. This month, we either make the Top 4 or lose it. Sp*rs and Everton, these head-to-head matches are must win, literally. And, good for Frimpong.
this month and the next*
and the next, and the next, and the next, and so on and so forth
[…] Read More Here: Arteta: this month is crucial […]
Yes, no doubt, this month is crucial for us. But take a look at the month of April for the Spuds – they play Everton, @Chelsea, and then the Citizens. And Everton have a pretty tough March (us, City, Stoke), followed by games against Spuds, and later, Liverpool and Chelsea on the last day of the season. If we have a so-so March, I for one wont be pulling a Rosicky, Mr. Choco Pants that he is. That’s not to say that we don’t have to press hard this month, but all is not doom if we fail to win… Read more »
Fuck, this makes me nervous! Last year the Spuds lost their steam because of overplaying the good players. This year they do have a more balanced squad and I´m afraid that their (eventual) breakdown will come to late for us to take the advantage. Everton will perish so it will stand between Spuds and us.
In other news, DENCH!
More balanced you say? Like the great depth of Huddlestone or Kane? Sp*rs have a wafer thin squad and an injury to that simian speedster would make them mediocre at best. Arsenal’s squad seems to be coming together at the right time, Goals are coming from all our forward players (I am astounded at the improvement in Walcott’s overall game, a real menace now) They were fantastic against Sunderland, before the Corporals rush of blood they were carving out chance after chance with fantastic passing and movement, even with 10 on the pitch they continued to create presentable opportunities. There… Read more »
Am I the only one wondering what the yellow ring is doing on top of Arteta’s head?
It’s common symbolism in art, dating back many thousands of years, and is used to denote someone of heroic (often divine) status.
So no, I’m not really wondering why it’s over Arteta’s head.
Keeping his hair perfect?
Halo appears on Arteta.
Pope resigns.
Coincidence?
I, for one, welcome our new Holy Regent.
Anyone else read that in frimoongs voice ?
We’re still in the F.A cup and UEFA champions league. Two competitions the sp*ds can now only dream of.
I like frimpong, so i hope he can make it work at Fulham and come back a better player. He’s what we need, as long as he can get a few less cards and tighten up on his positioning and concentration.
Love Artetas’ Halo.
I believe it is Hairlo…
Breaking: Beef burgers sold in Britain contain upto 100% horse meat.
I´d take that over dog meat..
You obviously had one this morning. I’ll still eat it all day too, just thought people should know. Fucked up but yeah…..
Next week’s exclusive from R18: Pope to resign.
Yeah. He’s gonna.
just waiting for rhe wilshere update
DENCH makes me fucking cringe. From the first day I saw it. A symbiotic relationship between a shit rapper looking to tap into football’s massive audience and a footballer looking to be involved in anything other than the one area he is gifted. Fuck DENCH!
In other news, I can’t wait for the Spurs game. So much at stake. I will go mental when we win.
Imagine this: Draw Everton, beat the Sp*ds. Then beat Blackburn 3-1 (with santi and Jack playing 60 mins) and draw the first Bayern match by the Grace of Berkamp thanks to a late Walcott/Giroud-combo-equaliser. Very doable (as in realistic) and I’ll take that considering the dire levels of doomed vibes after the swans match in December. Come on you Gunners!
It’ll be fine.
Arsene Knows!
Fucking smash the backdoors in! COYG
I love Frimpong as a player and I really do hope he breaks into thr first team but I can’t see it happening :o( our midfield is chocka with awesome players. Coquelin is much better than Frimpong and in a few seasons when Arteta loses his pace a bit I can see us bringing someone in as supposed to relying on the youth. Then again, we have prospects such as Eisfeld and even he has a certain aura about him. I just hope something clicks for Frimpong and he does make it. It’s good to be spoilt for choice in… Read more »
Arteta is dead right. It’s very important that we finish fourth and qualify for a competition which we have no chance of actually winning.
Luckily for us, Spurs, Everton and Liverpool don’t look strong enough to stay the course so we’ll probably just about nick it. And all that extra money that we earn can then be wasted by Wenger on inflated wage for shit players like Santos.
Then, hopefully, Wenger will get a new contract to carry on the good work.
Sorry mate, but as much as I hate to say it, Spurs ARE strong enough to last the course. I’d agree with you about the Toffees and the Scousers though, at least this season.
An obvious problem for them would be that Adebaywhore comes back from his stint in Africa, decides he’s done enough to inflate his value for the summer transfer season and drops into scummer mode.
Odds-on I reckon…..
i think we’ll make top 4 ahead of sp*s. in the same way that we’ve, sadly, lost the experience needed to win stuff, we do have the confidence and experience needed to make the top 4. i believe walcott when he says the squad are confident. i don’t think sp*s will be confident at all based on past seasons…
What?!…
I dread it when we get something like this from one of players. You just KNOW that the next game will see a wet, lifeless, shitty nappy, limp dicked, half wiped arse, brain dead performance
never a truer word
We are a bit thin in defence but if we get through the next month with decent results we should have a good end to the season.
Still backing a top 4 finish and FA Cup. Could be a hell of a season and the perfect platform for that British contingent to dominate the league for the foreseeable future
Frimmy is never going to be a first pick but I think he will be an important squad player. Good option to have when we need to mix it up or put out an aggressive team.
[…] Mikel Arteta sums up the next couple of weeks perfectly: […]
[…] Mikel Arteta sums up the next couple of weeks perfectly: […]