Mikel Arteta joked that Ben White and Oleksandr Zinchenko have been ‘sharing wives’ three days on from their heated bust-up during Arsenal’s win over Nottingham Forest. The pair needed to be pulled apart at the end of the game after becoming embroiled in a furious spat, with their manager being forced to step in and calm things down.
White and Zinchenko appeared to disagree over the goal conceded by Arsenal in the closing stages, with Taiwo Awoniyi pulling one back to halve the deficit for Forest. Arteta was quizzed on the incident in Friday’s press conference and left reporters in stitches with his response, in which he joked that the two players have been ‘sharing wives’ since making amends.
“They’ve been in the same house for the last three days, sharing wives and everything,” said Arteta. “They are living together now, they are best mates. You don’t argue with somebody you don’t have a great relationship with, it happens because of the trust. I love it, as long as it’s in a respectful way and it stays there, very happy with that.”
Arsenal will be hoping to continue their winning ways against Liverpool on Sunday in a seismic clash at the top of the Premier League table. The Gunners remain two places and five points behind their Merseyside rivals as things stand but Arteta is hoping that his players will be buoyed by the benefit of home advantage.
“We need to play like we did the last two games against them, but we need to be more efficient,” he said. “Very excited, it’s always great to prepare for a game against Liverpool. We play at home and I sense a real sense of positivity around the place.
“We had some big experiences [last season]. What we did last year was another big step, this season we are trying to do something better. The squad is better. We have some important injuries but the squad has managed really well.”
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