Mikel Arteta: Winning Premier League Requires Special Efforts
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Synopsis
Arsenal's recent defeat to West Ham United allowed Liverpool to extend their points lead to 11. Mikel Arteta emphasized that achieving the Premier League title demands extraordinary efforts, as Arsenal prepares to face City Ground with a pressing need to win all remaining matches to close the gap.
Key Takeaways
- Mikel Arteta insists extraordinary results are required to win the Premier League.
- Arsenal faces a significant injury crisis impacting their attacking options.
- Arteta remains determined to fight for the title despite the odds.
- Consistency in previous matches shows Arsenal's potential.
- Upcoming matches are crucial for Arsenal's title ambitions.
London, Feb 25 (NationPress) Arsenal’s defeat to West Ham United on Saturday allowed Liverpool to extend their lead in the points table to 11. With the odds stacked heavily against the Gunners, head coach Mikel Arteta confidently proclaimed that to win the Premier League, one must achieve something extraordinary. With a match at City Ground coming up on Thursday, Arsenal finds themselves needing to secure victories in all their remaining league matches, which may still fall short of overcoming the substantial deficit.
“Over my dead body,” Arteta responded in a press conference when questioned about Arsenal conceding the title race. “If not, I will go home. Mathematically it is possible. You are there, you have to play every game, suddenly three days ago we could close a gap and you are like 'you are one-and-a-half games away'. It doesn’t matter, we have to continue to go.
“The difficulty is higher than three days ago, but if you are going to win the Premier League, you have to do something special. If you are going to win the Premier League with the circumstances we have, you will probably have to do something that nobody else has done in the history of the Premier League,” he added.
Arsenal is grappling with a significant injury crisis that has sidelined their two main options for the forward position, Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz, while injuries to Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli have severely curtailed the team’s attacking capabilities.
Arteta had to deploy summer acquisition Mikel Merino in the striker role against West Ham, despite his lack of experience in that position after the Spaniard netted a brace against Leicester after coming off the bench.
“It was a very disappointing weekend. In the previous 15 games, we had won 10 and drawn five - exactly the same as Liverpool with exactly the same goal difference. So we have been extremely consistent over the last three months considering everything we have been through. We have generated that momentum and it was that weekend where we have to go again, but we got a defeat. On top of that, they [Liverpool] win,” he said.
