Mikel Arteta is expecting a big atmosphere when Manchester City visit Emirates Stadium on Wednesday evening and says there’s good energy around the club fuelled, in part, by anger following VAR’s failure to rule out Brentford’s equaliser at the weekend.
Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions arrive in London knowing a win will see them climb above the Gunners in the Premier League standings on goal difference, albeit having played a game more, following a difficult couple of weeks for the hosts.
Arsenal lost to City in the FA Cup at the end of January and the subsequent defeat at Everton was compounded by two more dropped points on Saturday. Despite a mild attack of the collywobbles, the manager thinks fans and players alike are steeled for the test ahead.
“There’s a great energy,” said Arteta when asked about the mood in the camp.
“I sensed it since I arrived after the Brentford game, from the staff, from everyone at the club, it was that mixture of anger and desire to play the next game. We need to use that tomorrow.”
He was then asked what he expects from the crowd. He replied: “That we play with 15 players tomorrow, that they are so into it, every single ball giving us energy and support. Basically what they’ve been doing. And let’s enjoy a beautiful night and a special day.”
Before adding: “The atmosphere we’re generating at the Emirates is just incredible. The players are talking about it and they are really enjoying it and it makes it very special to be part of that.”
Arteta hasn’t beaten old mentor Guardiola in a league encounter since becoming the main man in the Arsenal dugout and he knows his former club enter the game favourites having had plenty of experience of top-of-the-table encounters in recent years.
Asked what the biggest threat posed by City, he said: “Them as a team. What they’ve done in the last six years, they absolutely merit it.
“They merit it on the pitch, the way they play, the way they have competed, the way they have gone through difficulties.
“For us, the challenge is to get to that level. We need to use that challenge and that energy to be where we want to be and this is the level. We are heading towards it.”
COYG!!!
Demonstration time. There is a reason the table reads:
Statement time.
That’s fine as long as it doesn’t boil over on the pitch.
We need to be calm and collected against City because they will be looking to exploit any signs of ill discipline by our players which, with everything else at stake tomorrow, is the last thing we need.
I agree. A draw would do nicely. Let’s not get drawn into the narrative that this is must win. We are ahead with a game in hand. If they want to beat us they’ll have to open up to do it.
At the same time let’s make the place a seething cauldron for those cheating cunts.
I agree. Don’t want a repeat of last year – played them off the park for an hour, and then a bullshit penalty led to an unnecessary red card. It was the red that cost us more than the penalty in that game.
But we are bigger and better this year, so looking forward to seeing what we do. COYG
Some learning maybe to be taken from Spurs last year, when a more pragmatic approach and a draw would have been fine. The loss was a fatal blow. This time there is far to go, but them going above us would be difficult to take. They have to go for it, and we have personel who can counter effectively
maybe we should get a giant banner for a lawyer
If you are fortunate enough to go the game, please make some noise and support the boys. Please don’t just silently sip on some coffee and expect to get entertained. We need get on the refs back at all times, push and urge the team forward even if things aren’t going well. COYG!
15 players is not enough. If they have VAR and the ref on their team.
Let’s make it 20 then!
COYG!!!
I’ll be honest. If city win the title (and let’s be fair they are the only challengers), and they get what I expect to be a slap on the wrist for their extensive list of cheating accusations (delighted to be proven wrong), it will likely severly impact my desire to watch future top flight football. I reached the point with the world cup where the corruption was so blatant I couldn’t watch it anymore and as a result, I didn’t see a single minute of a tournament I’ve loved all my life. I can feel myself going the same way… Read more »
Yeah. I didn’t watch the world cup either. EPL is bent. These fucking billionaires man. Fucking up the world and fucking up the footie too! Fuck off you wankers! And 💯 that includes kroenke the doosh bag!
What’s Kronke done now? Apart from finance a complete rebuild of the team?
Open your eyes man. It’s the billionaires of this world causing ALL the problems. This deification of them is allows them to do what they do. They buy sports teams to buy favour and support from the masses. There should be zero billionaires in the world.
Billionaires are a symptom of the disease which is corruption and government collusion in the corruption. Look at the no bid military contracts the UK and US allowed during Iraqi war with their political supporters. Similar contracts during the pandemic. And now the government, who pressured the FA not to fight against the Saudi’s takeover at Newcastle, want to appoint an independent regulator to govern the PL. it’s the fox watching the hen house. Where there is money to be made, govt and billionaire corruption is soon to follow. Their unrelenting thirst to control everything will doom us all. All… Read more »
Play Tomiyasu at LB, Trossard LW and we are good to go. For the sake of this match Ben White should start.
PGMOL
their version of var is like “a box of chocolates”
You never know what you’re going to get
Anyway, they’ll be shit scared to Fuck us over tomorrow night🧐
“Ah just kept watching”
“Am not a smart man How-ward”
yeh I am confident things officials wise might go Arsenals way this game.
Completely off topic, but I’m loving that Arteta’s comments genuinely have other fans rattled. I’m mates with a bunch of Utd fans and he’s living in their heads rent free. Posting the Lego GIFs in WhatsApp is the highlight of my day.
I don’t see this game as the defining game of the season particularly, but a win for Arsenal can be the tonic that drives us to the title.