Arsenal form feels like ‘stab in the chest’, admits boss Arteta ahead of showdown with table-topping Tottenham
MIKEL ARTETA says that Arsenal’s miserable form this season has been like “a stab to the chest”.
The Premier League’s youngest boss is under growing pressure to stop the Emirates rot after his team slipped to 14th place in the table.
And he admits that recent results have come as a shock to the system ahead of Sunday’s crunch North London derby away to top-of-the=table Spurs.
“When you lose three games in a row at home like we have done it’s like having a stab in your chest,” Arteta admitted.
“It’s not acceptable and we have to change it and not look for any excuses because I hate to do that.
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“I am really worried with the results and with the margins that we are losing games by.
“Sometimes it’s down to a lack of confidence in certain moments but we also need to concede that we’ve probably not hit our standards or scored the goals we need to win matches more consistently.”
But Arteta, 39, warns impatient fans that there will be no quick fix the mounting problems following the team’s worst ever start to a Premier League season.
Almost a year after taking over from Unai Emery, he says: “I expected us to be a bit higher up the table than we are, but this is our reality and we have to face up to that challenge.
“Even when we were winning trophies earlier in the year, we were still a long, long way from what I wanted.
“But now we’re losing and obviously we are even further away and I’m sorry but it’s going to take time.
“With the love that I have for this club, the dream is to build a project, but it is not something you can achieve in one month or three months.
“We have spent a lot of energy and made some massive decisions. A lot of changes had to be made to overhaul the club while trying to remain competitive and all the while going through the pandemic.
“It’s painful for everyone to lose games but the mood within the club remains very strong.
“It’s easy when things are going well and everybody wants to be on the TV and on the back pages celebrating.
“But unfortunately at the moment we’re not that good and we’ll see who responds to this difficult period and who doesn’t.”
Arsenal have scored just ten Premier League goals all season and top scorer Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has not netted from open play since the first game of the season.
But Arteta insists: “To put almost 80 per cent of the scoring responsibility on one man is not fair.
“The way the goals have been shared at this club has been quite limited and that’s an issue that has been happening for years.
“We haven’t had any goals from midfield and that’s something that has to be addressed but it’s very difficult to change the qualities and characteristics of the players.
“But if you lose those margins you start to lose points and you become further from the top. It’s not rocket science.”
With qualification for the next stage of the Europa League already assured, Arteta is likely to rest his senior players tonight ahead of Sunday’s crucial game.
Yet he is hoping that the return of 2,000 fans for tonight’s home game against Rapid Vienna will prove a turning point for the team.
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He said: “I’ve really missed the supporters. The good moments we have had over the past nine months would have been even more special if they were there with us.
“They would have generated a connection with the team and we haven’t had an opportunity to do that.
“So I can see only positives having them back in the stadium and I expect them to be very supportive because no team has stability and wins trophies when the fans go against them.”