Arsenal face a tough trip to Chelsea in their next game, with Mikel Arteta desperate for a strong response from his side.
Arsenal are suffering from a poor run of form on the road, and another loss could be a fatal blow for their Premier League title hopes.
Bitter rivals Chelsea will be hoping for a rare win against Arsenal, but Arteta’s side are not currently at their best level heading into the game.
Arteta has now held his pre-match press conference, and there was a lot to discuss.
Mikel Arteta praises Enzo Maresca’s work at Chelsea
Chelsea have struggled in recent seasons despite heavy spending, but are now finding form under Enzo Maresca, and Arteta has praised the Italian, as well as former manager Mauricio Pochettino.
“Really impressed about what [Maresca’s] done but what they’ve done over a year because with Mauricio [Pocchetino] the last six months were extraordinary,” Arteta claimed.
“You could see the squad, the quality they have, the amount of players they have and then Enzo has given his touch and you can see clearly what he wants to do.
“I think he’s been really brave from day one to consistently follow what he wanted to do. I know how he thinks, I know a lot of people that know him well and are very happy that he is making a lot of progress there.”
Arteta gives Cole Palmer verdict
Chelsea’s key player is attacking midfielder Cole Palmer, who is an injury doubt for the game. Despite this, Arteta is well aware of the threat he poses.
“That’s a question that probably all the managers in the league have had in the last year or so and he’s still managed to impact games in the right way,” Arteta replied when asked how to stop Palmer.
“Obviously we will have a plan, not only for Cole, but to minimise all the quality and threats that they have and try to exploit their weaknesses, like any other team.”
Arteta on Martin Odegaard’s Arsenal return
Arteta has confirmed that Martin Odegaard is in contention to start the game, but he has warned that the captain will not be an instant solution to Arsenal’s attacking problems.
“We are demanding that but it’s not very realistic. It’s about the collective, every player taking ownership with what we have to do in attack and doing it better and more consistently,” Arteta stated of Odegaard fixing the attack.
“But certainly, having a player like Martin helps because he’s shown how important he’s been for us in the last three or four years.
“He’s always very close, always very active with the team. He knows the role and responsibilities that he has.
“He’s tried his best but obviously not having him in the squad, in the team, on the outside with us on many occasions, it is different. But I think on that issue, especially when we talk about motivation, there are no issues at all.”
Arteta claims Arsenal have improved since Bayern Munich loss
Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Inter Milan had shades of their losses to Porto and Bayern Munich in the Champions League last season, but Arteta has insisted that his side has improved a lot since then.
“If I compare how we played against Porto and Bayern Munich and the way we played against Inter Milan away in Europe, there is no comparison whatsoever,” he claimed.
“But in 10 or 20 aspects of the game and having everything, all the post-match reviews after that, it is very clear. The thing is that you need the result at the end.
“The outcome was disappointing, it should’ve been very different but this is football, that’s the beauty of it. Even doing that, if you’re ahead you can get very frustrated because you haven’t won the game, but there are a few aspects to that.”
Could Arsenal take another trip to Dubai?
Arsenal’s form dramatically improved last season after the squad took a mid-season trip to Dubai, but Arteta has admitted that a repeat is unlikely.
“The results probably were very similar, but the context is very different because you tend to forget why you lost a full game against Bournemouth, or what happened what we didn’t win against Liverpool or the amount of situations we have had to go through,” Arteta replied when asked about Dubai.
“It does not matter, in the end we cannot go to Dubai for a week now like we did last time, we can go to Dubai still for two days – if that’s the solution we’ll go forward and backwards!
“The team is doing 10 times more better things than we used to do at that period, that’s the positive thing, but for all this to be clear and relevant you have to win, especially to answer certain questions.”
Arsenal went on a run of 16 wins from 18 games after their Dubai trip last season, and perhaps they need another one to re-energise the squad.
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