Mikel Arteta has come up with his most English excuse yet for why Arsenal are not as free-running this season. The Arsenal manager puts it down to traffic. Jamie Carragher pointed out on Sky Sports after the weekend that Arsenal have not been moving through the gears as easily as they seemed to last season.
But Arteta hit back by saying while he is focused on racking up the wins and securing top spot in Champions League Group B on Wednesday night, the one place he does not want three points is on his licence. “I take satisfaction from where we are,” the Spaniard said. “We have to find a way to be where we want to be. This is exactly where we want to be.
“It’s not going to be as fluent, it’s not going to be as hectic because there’s no space to run,” he said. “When you’re sitting in traffic I want to go 100 miles an hour but I have three buses and 55 taxis and motorbikes around me, so it’s tricky. We need to want to get to where we want to get. In order to do that we have to be really solid – and we’ve been really, really solid.”
Sometimes the 38-game long haul to the Premier League can seem like a trundle, whereas the Champions League final will be only meaningful six games away if Arsenal finish top of their group by beating Lens at the Emirates – plus a dead-rubber trip to PSV.
“To get to the final, a lot of things have to go your way and you have to perform at an incredible level to have the opportunity to do that,” Arteta said. “We are going to try, that’s for sure. Except for Real Madrid, who are normally the winners, for the rest winning the Champions League is a dream. But it’s a possible dream. To win the Premier League is a huge marathon. But the Champions League is something special.
“It is moments that have to go your way and it is having that belief in your team that you can create that special atmosphere in those moments and having a lot of luck in those moments. A lot of things need to go your way and now I think the Premier League is so tough. But for us as a club, it is the Champions League because we have not won it yet.”
These things take time and nowhere is that better demonstrated than the fact that the game against Lens falls on the fifth anniversary of Bukayo Saka’s Arsenal debut. It is a time during which he has developed from an exciting but somewhat unrestrained winger lacking in final product to one of the most devastating attacking players in the world.
“What he’s done in the past five years is remarkable at his age,” Arteta said. “Getting to the top is one thing but maintaining it for five to 10 years is something else. He’s got the right mentality, the right family and the right people around him. He is still so humble and has the right advice around him.
“That’s what makes him special. It is impossible not to love Bukayo. You sit with him for two minutes, you get to know him and you get shocked at what a special character and person he is.”
