Mikel Arteta has demanded more from his Arsenal side after they were held to a draw by Chelsea on Sunday, with the Gunners now nine points adrift of leaders Liverpool
Mikel Arteta has bizarrely warned his Arsenal players they are not at ‘Disneyland’ after falling further behind in the title race.
The Gunners were held to a draw by Chelsea on Sunday evening and now sit nine points behind leaders Liverpool. Arteta’s men are now without a win in their last four games in all competitions.
They had taken the lead at Stamford Bridge through Gabriel Martinelli’s goal on the hour mark. But a wonderstrike 10 minutes later from Pedro Neto rescued a draw for Enzo Maresca’s hosts.
It was a missed opportunity for the Gunners, with Manchester City having slipped up at Brighton. And Arteta has laid down the gauntlet to his players for when they return from next week’s international break.
“Win, win and win because these guys, they don’t stop winning, so that’s what we have to do. When it gets nasty, show your teeth and show how much you want it,” the Arsenal boss said.
“When it’s Disneyland, it’s easy, everyone is next to you and telling you how beautiful you are and when it gets dark and difficult, everyone is questioning it. That’s when I want to see people, that’s when I’m always looking around, who’s going to step in that role, yes or no.”
The Spaniard had been left disappointed with his players for throwing away what would have been a crucial win. But he did admit they had taken his advice to ‘show their teeth’ when facing adversity.
“Disappointed with the result because I think we deserved more and at the same time very proud of the team, the way we played here against this opponent, in this stadium, they have battered every opponent here and obviously it wasn’t the case today,” Arteta added.
“But after doing the most difficult thing, scoring the first goal, very disappointed with how we conceded the goal, nowhere near the standards, our defensive habits, how we allowed that and the moment you allow that space and time to any of their players with the quality they have you’re going to get punished, so that’s not bad luck.
“But in the end, the team showed its teeth, how much they wanted it, they took risks, full determination, put Chelsea under every problem. We were very aggressive, we created three big chances and unfortunately we weren’t able to put the ball in the net to win.
“There is nothing we can change today about that. What I am just praying is that after the international break I have the team fully equipped physically, they are available and they are fit because it has been an absolute nightmare for eight weeks.
“Issue after issue, not only the ones that are not able to play, but the ones that are able to play only for certain moments, only for certain days, not able to train. So I’m just asking that because the team, the desire that they have and how much we want it, there’s no question about that.”
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