Mikel Arteta has opened up on the two periods this season where he feared Arsenal’s title challenge might unravel.
Speaking to Sky Sports in his first sit-down interview since winning the Premier League, Arteta was honest when asked about the moments that he felt it might slip away from them.
“I had two moments. One before Christmas when we had a frontline with a lot of injuries, and then the international break in March,” he said.
“I said the players that are injured now, they might come back in two or three weeks, but they’re going to be out five or six weeks, and that is going to pay in the performance, the way we can perform every three days when the most crucial part of the season is.
“So we cannot rely only on these four players when they’re back because they’re not going to reach the point.”
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Arteta is referring to the period where Arsenal lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City, and then returned from the international break with an FA Cup defeat at Southampton.
Eberechi Eze, Martin Odegaard, and Bukayo Saka were among the players with injury or fitness issues at the time. Even Declan Rice was clearly lagging.
Mikel Arteta on turning the season around after Bournemouth defeat
There was a third moment, perhaps the biggest, that revealed most about Mikel Arteta’s leadership under pressure.
“For me the biggest question mark is when we lost against Bournemouth at home, how are we going to react, and then it’s throw the tactics boards away and think about something else.”
With doubt creeping into the dressing room, Arteta knew a tactical response was not enough.
“I have to think about what is the message going to be, and I said this team is all energy so it has to go through the energy, through the emotion, and connect them to make sure that they feel that they are the best in the world, because at the moment they don’t feel that they are the best in the world.
“There is doubt and there is a question mark on them.”
The solution involved switching off the sports news channels at London Colney and replacing them with music, to cut out any negative outside noise and lift the mood.
Arteta also hinted that a significant amount of footage was captured behind the scenes during this period.
“Probably you will see, maybe, when everything finishes. Creating moments with them,” he said — suggesting that perhaps a documentary of Arsenal’s title-winning season may be on the way.
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