Mikel Arteta issues challenge to Arsenal stars and makes his pre-Liverpool refusal clear
Arsenal face Liverpool in a crunch Premier League showdown on Sunday and with Arne Slot's side leading the way in the title race at present, Mikel Arteta's men could fall seven points behind the Merseysiders already if beaten
by John Cross · The MirrorMikel Arteta has challenged his players to bare their “teeth” and show they are ready to win the title.
Arteta says he is refusing to even contemplate defeat against Liverpool and the danger of falling seven points behind Arne Slot ’s early pace-setters. Instead, Arteta says his Arsenal players are full of resilience and will rise to the occasion despite facing huge adversities ahead of facing one of their main title rivals.
The Gunners will be without suspended defender William Saliba, captain Martin Odegaard is out injured while Bukayo Saka and Jurrien Timber are big fitness doubts and Riccardo Calafiori is set to miss out.
It has been a nightmare start to the Premier League campaign as they have already faced Manchester City away, won at Aston Villa and Tottenham and have tough trips to Newcastle and Chelsea up next after the Liverpool showdown. But Arteta said: “I never think about: ‘What if we lose it?’ Everything that we do is to win, so in my preparation I don’t spend one second [thinking]: ‘If we lose it.’
“It’s about, if we win it, how convinced we are that we are going to win it and how we are going to feel afterwards.
“When we won against Aston Villa everybody was already saying if you lose this game, second game of the season, what’s next? Then you go to City and have this or that. We cannot think like this in October. Not that early in the season, knowing the manner it has happened with a few players. Having the rest in the best possible physical and mental condition is something we put a lot of work into. It’s key. You need the team prepared.
“When you lose your captain, that’s a big thing. When you lose your central defender, a full back, another full back, a striker, a winger: the team has to have the resources. First of all mentally to adapt to that and then maintain the same belief that even like this we’re a great team.
“I love watching individuals and teams react to that. It is a [down] look? I hate it. I haven’t seen it in the staff, I haven’t seen it upstairs, I haven’t seen anyone talk about it. Get on with it. Get on with it. Show your teeth. Show how much you want it.
“This means opportunities for other people, opportunities for us as a team to rebel against certain situations. We need the crowd more, on Sunday even more. Let’s keep going.
“It gives me zero for the next moment, the next day, the next preparation. It just takes things out of me.
"If it takes things out of me, it takes things out of the staff because they are close to me. If it takes things out of the staff, it’s then the players. Then your belief? Throw it away."
Arsenal drew at Liverpool in the Premier League last season and beat them at the Emirates which they also did against City while getting a 2-2 draw at the Etihad this season. They were the three title favourites this time and yet Arteta pointed out Arsenal have been four points ahead at different points in the past two seasons - and yet did not end up winning it either time.
Arteta added: “If we could be four points ahead, that’s still not going to change the season because we’ve been there in that situation as well. We can probably learn from it as well.
“This is another opportunity and the team has done it. That’s the good thing. They have already experienced it, they believe how good they are and that’s really important.”
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