Mikel Arteta admits he’d have preferred the same amount of time to prepare for Sunday’s match with Manchester City as the schedule afforded Pep Guardiola’s side but he’s looking forward to it all the same.
After drawing 0-0 with Atalanta in Italy on Thursday night, Arsenal flew back to London in the early hours before undertaking a recovery session today. They’ll then spend tomorrow morning on the training ground before heading north for the top-of-the table clash.
In contrast, City played at home against Inter Milan on Wednesday and have enjoyed an extra 24 hours of rest.
In his pre-game media briefing, Arteta said: “We wanted the same as them, we’re not getting it, so we have to adapt and make the most of the time that we have today and tomorrow and on the morning of the match to prepare in the best way to go there and win the game.”
In the absence of captain Martin Odegaard, the Gunners have looked somewhat disjointed in attack in the last couple of days, but after securing clean sheets in Bergamo and last weekend’s north London derby win, the mood in the camp is “very good” said the boss.
He added: “We played two very competitive matches away from home in the last four or five days and we have a massive one on Sunday as well, so we’re looking forward to it.
“We played against two very different teams but both of them are really tricky to play against away from home. We had a positive result last night. We wanted to win the game, but if you cannot win it, don’t lose it and there are things to improve but as a team we are showing a lot of consistency.”
From the moment the fixtures were released in July, the Gunners knew they faced a tricky start to the campaign. While the football hasn’t been the prettiest, the fact his side remains unbeaten after five games is a testament to the work done during the summer.
“We’ve been preparing for this since pre-season,” said Arteta. “Obviously, we knew the schedule and we knew that it’s extremely rare to play in these conditions with three massive away games in six days, but it was what it was so we have prepared for that, both physically, mentally and tactically.
“We’re making sure that everyone is ready for it, because we’re going to need them, especially with the injuries that we had from the international break.
“I enjoy a lot of time in the office and on the training ground, but it is what it is,” he added.
“We want to be in the position we’re in, we dreamed of this years ago and were in this position right now. Let’s make the most out of it and let’s enjoy it.”
On the team news front, it sounds like the Gunners escaped Bergamo without adding to a list that still includes Martin Odegaard, Mikel Merino, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kieran Tierney.
“Not really [any fresh injuries],” confirmed the boss. “Straight after the Atalanta match, we need to recover, sleep, eat well and everyone is looking forward to the match. We know what it means, we know what we’re fighting for and it’s a great opportunity for the team to show what we’re capable of.”
For what it’s worth City’s talisman Kevin De Bruyne limped off on Wednesday and is a doubt for Sunday. Arteta played down the Belgian’s absence pointing out mentor Guardiola has plenty of other options.
“They have the option if he doesn’t play of Gundogan, Bernardo, Phil Foden, Kovacic,” he said.
“They’re all world-class players. We have a few missing as well and we have to adapt, but certainly those kinds of teams don’t rely on one individual which is extremely important for them.”
What a mockery of the sport that a team can lose arguably the best #10 in world football over the past few seasons and have as options to replace him.
Fuck $ity, fuck €hel$ki, and fuck the FA for allowing this farce in the first place.
To be fair Bernardo is like Trossard/Havertz, Gundogan and Kovacic like Rice and Merino and Saka is like Foden only that we have never tried him central. Beyond that, it’s just that they’ve won things so the pressure on them not to fail isn’t as much as on us. The biggest question is if they lost Haaland for 3 months after the window has closed. You look at last season after the start of 2024 and we went toe to toe with them, scored more and conceded less. We are not that far off squadwise but it’s Pep himself that… Read more »
Absolutely. A great team in the hands of a super tactician.
None of the guys Arteta listed makes up for losing KdB. These rigid JdP teams really need the maverick goal from nothing types, and he’s one of two of those for them (Haaland is the other). The others Arteta named are good but they won’t just win the game by themselves for City. Foden doesn’t scare me at all.
To be fair, you could chop off Arteta’s leg and tell him he needs to perform Riverdance and he would say, “It’s a beautiful challenge”.
I, on the other hand, get the sniffles and declare myself out of action for 3 to 5 days and will only return to work pending a fitness test and painkilling injections.
I watched Man City v Inter and thought Inter were clearly the better team. Of course, either side could have won it, but I was a bit surprised at how easily Inter took control of the midfield. De Bruyne was especially ineffective; Pep said–and I believe him–that he was planning to replace him at half time even without his injury. Obviously that doesn’t mean we are going to have an easy time. For one thing, I expect Kyle Walker will play against us. But I think we need to do what Inter did–treat them like a very good team, not… Read more »
Don’t worry. We’ll beat them without Odegaard. Which will make the victory even sweeter 😁😁😁
De Bruyne I think is doing the old fashioned, drop off a cliff after early 30s. Feels like he needs to be used how Modric is these days. For Belgium he played the worst I’ve ever seen. No good against Inter. I think he takes a big dip this season and even bigger next season. He’s still a genius so I’m sure he’ll produce but Im also sure Pep wants rid of him.
Are you saying in a couple of years he’ll be out of a job, down at the pub chugging some of that Belgian witbier? Less Kevin de Bruyne, more Kevin de Brew?
No it’s fine, I’ll get my coat on my own no need to help me with it.
I think he’s always been an extraordinarily physical player – “pace and power” as people like to say – and is much more of a second striker than a midfielder. KdB at his best always reminded me of Kaka at Milan, and those kind of players often struggle with injuries and don’t age as well due to the explosiveness required to play at that level
I thought they were better in the second half when Foden replaced De Bruyne and interchanged with Bernardo on the right and I think that’s how they’ll set up against us. I’d take a repeat of last night tbh. Collectively, to have been away to Villa, Tots and City in the first five games and unbeaten with seven points gained would in my opinion be a great achievement.
Yeah I suspect they took the same approach we did against Atalanta and played at 50-75% capacity, holding them at arms length, not really stretching themselves. It’ll be a different story when we come to town.
A win and two draws in these three fixtures would be a massive achievement all things considered. If Arsenal manages to nick a win at the Etihad, they may just have given themselves a boost that may take them to the title.
COYG
Arteta should show some cojones and roll the dice for the City game.
I would start with Sterling instead of Martinelli and bring in Nwaneri to add that creativity that we have been badly lacking.
But I’m sure he won’t: he’s looking for the 0-0 again and so will play a very defensive side.
I mean, come on man. A draw here down Ode, Merino, Zinny, Tomi is a good result. We’re not playing Crawley Town FC. I’m ok with giving a chance to Nwaneri and/or Sterling, but we’d be mad going all out attack here, particularly considering how strong our defensive shape is.
The ideal scenario is snatching a goal somehow (corner?) and defending like terriers. However, a draw is a good point.
But if THEY score? We are completely toothless at the moment. We can’t keep relying on our defence to get us out of trouble. We need to provide some menace up front.
I agree, hence, no problem with giving Nwaneri a chance (he works hard on defense too); I’m also in favour of Zinchenko playing #10 cause he is our second most creative player, but he’s crocked. Sterling I think would be better as an impact sub, as I’m not sure he can play the defensive side like Tross or Gabi yet…
We’re not really down Tomi or Zinchenko (particularly Zinchenko) as both would be nowhere near the starting xi even if fit.
And we don’t know anything about Merino.
I am the upvoter.
Thanks!
People act like creativity has to come from individual skill. It’s actually much more sustainable to build it through comprehensive team dynamics. Yes you have to execute passes but it’s not beyond the ability of the average top 5 leave footballer to do so if they are given a clean look and space to hit. Atalanta are a prime example. Who is their arch creator? Who is Liverpoo’s? It’s their press and it’s their overloads and their timing off each other. It’s all tactics and team cohesion. Right now Arsenal are not executing relatively simple passes that make such dynamics… Read more »
I’d take a drab and uneventful draw now in a heartbeat with injuries to nailed on starters and an attack looking out of form. To be 2 points behind City after that schedule from hell would be a dream start to the season. The fixture list looks a little kinder after Sunday.
The game plan is going to be similar to what we’ve seen the last two matches. City will have 75% or so in possession and we will look to counter and get some free kick opportunities which is not at all a style that I enjoy watching, but of course if it gets us a draw or even better a win then will be fine with it. However, after this game we need to figure out how to adapt to not having Odegaard in the attack to create more fluidity and opportunities. Would love to see Nwaneri get a chance… Read more »
I think Ethan will get his chance against the low block teams and in the cups. If he does well there, who knows? But let’s give the lad some space to grow at his pace.
Just watched Atalanta game. In the second half it looked to me like both teams were cool with the draw. Gasperini made sub after sub degrading the quality of his team, clearly not going for it. The players looked like they were very deliberately conserving energy. It’s the smart thing to do. We didn’t need to win this game.
But luckily we’ve added two extra games of this “high quality high stakes” football because it’s what the fans want !!!
If De Bruyne is absent, we really need to shut down Haaland to give ourselves a chance, but we did that last season (3 games 0 goals). We are still likely to draw at best unless our finishing improves or we are luckier than Thursday.
That said, we would have played 3 of our toughest away games without losing (or conceding a goal). Add a bit of luck or good finishing and who Knows?
I expect less than 2 xG on both sides, 1 goal margin at most, most likely a draw.
This:
Raya
White. Saliba. Gabriel. Timber.
Jorginho Rice
Saka Calafiori
Havertz
Martinelli
We cannot play the whole match around our own box and hope for 0-0. We have good midfielders in Rice, Jorginho and Party. Of these, Partey is the most offensively inclined and might be pushed higher up on the field Sunday.
Both ESR and Reiss on the scoresheet today for Fulham…!
fulham is my second league team…an arsenal lite. emile, iwobi, nelson, leno…last year, willian was there. it’s great to see the boys getting the opportunity to showcase what they’re capable of…opportunities they didn’t get at arsenal. at least reiss will come back.
I don’t get the “too many missing pieces” thing from today’s blog. We got only one important injured player. It is a problem but we have solve these kinds of situations in a long season.