Mikel Arteta is pleased with the way Arsenal are playing but says his players need to stay focused if they are to achieve the points total that he predicts will be enough to secure top four football.
The Gunners had to work hard for three points against a stubborn Brentford side at Emirates Stadium but eventually sealed a 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Emile Smith Rowe and Bukayo Saka.
While Arsenal remains sixth in the Premier League rankings the gap on fourth-placed Manchester United is down to one point and we still have two games in hand.
“The way I see it, we have 15 games to go and we know, more or less, the amount of points that are necessary to be in that fight,” Arteta told his post-game press conference.
“We’re still really, really far. What we have to do is focus on the next match and don’t lose any height.
“This changes very quickly and this is going to be a lot of turnarounds, you see it every week and we have to maintain everybody fit because we are a really short squad at the moment.
“Maintain everybody fit and everybody with the right belief and the standards have to raise more because we have to play better to win more matches.”
He added: “I’m very happy, especially the way we are playing and where we are going because that will lead to good results.
“That journey is what we have to enjoy because the outcome we don’t know and is going to depend on many, many factors. We have to do what we can control and for sure, every win, celebrate it, because it’s tough.”
Having lost to Brentford at the Community Stadium on the first day of the season – a result that set the tone for a very difficult opening month of the campaign – Arteta was pleased to exact some revenge on the newly-promoted side.
“That hurt and that scar was there,” admitted the Spaniard. “I felt it and I tried to transmit it to the players that we should not forget how we felt after the game.
“We understood what happened and the revolts after that but we analysed it with the context we were in and it was really difficult to prepare that game. The players we had on the pitch, it was nothing like the players we had today, but we learned a lot as a team.”
Reflecting on the race for the top four, Arteta continued: “We want to win every game. As I said before, obviously that’s off the back of something. Obviously, we want to try to get a big purpose to the season and that [finishing in the top four] is certainly one of them but we know we cannot look to far.
“Things change very quickly, it’s very difficult to win matches in this league and we have to focus on what is tomorrow, train tomorrow, train well, review the match and go again and prepare well against Wolves.”
Just keep making us proud boys 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾 COYG!
Yeah please spank wolves, they really are obnoxious!!!
I love the energy in this team. We’re about a grand total of 4 spot on signings to advance our game. I’m cautiously optimistic that if we continue on this trajectory we’re gonna do great things.
Brentford were stubborn?
Our filthy neighbors and Man Utd seem to be the stiffest competition we have for top four. I hope UCL will distract Man Utd enough to slip up three more games at least. Enough to let us have the commanding edge. But this environment is what will shape the future of the club. If this group of players turns up for the remaining matches, we shall send the right message to new players joining the club. This is the most important thing for me. It’s the added bonus to getting UCL and arguably the more valuable quality. I’m tired of… Read more »
With 15 games remaining; I think we’ll get 8 wins, 4 draws, 3 defeats which would get us to 70 points. Could be enough for 4th.
Mental. When I read Arteta’s comment I looked at the table… and came to the exact same conclusion.
Helpful if two of those wins are Utd and Sp*rs.
As Elliot and co. discussed, statistically, 67 points plus is the target to get top 4. I think we can do it
I think about 65 would be enough considering the erratic form of teams involved. That said I would love to drag Chelsea in this dogfight.
Yes if we win against Manure, West Ham, wolves and Spuds !!
I thought the target should be 70 points too. That will be awesome; feels like a long time since we reached that mark in a season.
Did someone else notice Gabriel’s body language when the referee was about to book him?
He thought it was red. He was so relieved when the yellow went up he almost hugged the ref.
I like what Arteta says 👍
The Club/Arteta’s vision for this project, the ethos and values being instilled within, the team’s unity and youthfulness, the energy of the fans thisbseason and the relationship with the players maybe the biggest assets than a salary package in attracting the best players. Add CL football then we’re 🌠
It was a really good win today, but there are concerns still about our ability to sustain the fight for 4th through the end of the season. We dominated today and should have scored more and won by a bigger margin. We still lack a bit of guile when facing teams that park the bus. Our attack is still vague at times, repetitive and lacking decisive movement. Wing play from our young star boys won this match for us. And even with Odegaard having a very good game, we were often ponderous in our efforts to break them down, during… Read more »
Don’t know about others but I saw Laca’s offside again and again and he was behind the ball when Xhaka passed, how it was ruled offside is beyond me. VAR showed the frame when ESR passed the ball to Xhaka at that instance Laca was offside but certainly not later. Thoughts?
I had a good view from the upper tier and assumed it was Laca who was offside but on MOD they showed it was Xhaka who was narrowly off. Its so hard to judge these tight calls with the naked eye hence VAR. Personally i preferred the old fashioned view of giving the benefit of the doubt to the attacking player in tight decisions.
Xhaka was the player offside, you need to look back to the previous pass.
There are always several ways to do things. Mikel took the long term view in this January transfer window and the actual benefit of doing it is squad togetherness that you won’t be able to buy when you have a champions league squad.
It’s risky but not wrong. It has a direction and a value. Hopefully we don’t get too many injuries or suspensions.
Would be amazing to see a few productive debuts of the youngsters at some point. But of course that is the icing on the cake.
Good performance against Brentford apart from lapse at very end.
We need to be a bit more mature with risk management.
But positives as we continue to push for a potential top four with suprising slip ups a round us.
OTOH we must not be complacent bc it just takes 2 or 3 poor performances and we will be back out of it.
Wolves midweek a great opportunity we must not take for granted.