Mikel Arteta has called on Arsenal to overcome their historical New Year struggles as the team contends for its initial Premier League championship in over twenty years.
At the season’s midpoint, Arsenal maintains a four-point advantage over Manchester City, who are in second place, and is still considered the frontrunner to secure a 14th English league trophy.
Nevertheless, in the five prior instances over the last 23 years where they concluded the calendar year leading the standings, they were unsuccessful in clinching the championship.
Their latest failure occurred three campaigns ago, when the squad under Arteta’s guidance ended the season trailing Pep Guardiola’s City by five points.
The Arsenal manager, speaking on Friday, before the team’s journey to Bournemouth, stated that he was unaware of this discouraging statistic but commented: “We need to overturn this.”
Arteta mentioned that his squad intensely desired to be crowned English champions, a feat not achieved since 2004, especially after consecutively finishing in second place three times.
“This is what they communicate daily when they are with us, during training or in every fixture,” he commented.
“One can observe their eagerness, the effort they exert, their strong ambition, and that’s precisely what is required,” he stated.
“There are still five months remaining; approach it one day at a time, relish the current position we are in, and pursue the objective,” he concluded.
Arteta noted that his team was in high spirits following their commanding 4-1 victory over Aston Villa, currently in third place, at the Emirates on Tuesday, especially as City was subsequently held to a scoreless tie by Sunderland two days after.
“It was clearly excellent after the match against truly formidable opponents, to once more perform and secure a victory in the impressive fashion we did, fantastic,” the Arsenal manager further remarked.
“(Our current) focus is on Bournemouth. We are aware of the challenge tomorrow’s match will present, and everyone will be ready for it.”
The Spanish coach expressed satisfaction with his team’s standing at the mid-point of the season but maintained: “Improvements are always possible.”
“There are clearly aspects to refine, and the singular truth we hold is that it’s perpetually about the upcoming fixture, and we understand the difficulty each rival faces in overcoming them.”
Arsenal has contended with an extensive roster of injured players throughout this season.
While defender Gabriel Magalhaes and attacker Gabriel Jesus have returned to play, Arteta might once more be missing Declan Rice for Saturday’s away game against Bournemouth.
The English central player was absent from the victory over Villa due to a knee injury.
“We conduct another training session today,” Arteta stated. “We will observe his condition today and how he feels, but the previous match was prematurely scheduled for his return.”
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