Mikel Arteta disagrees with Arsene Wenger over Arsenal’s lack of a “weak position”
Legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is a huge fan of the team Mikel Arteta has built at the Emirates and believes they can challenge for silverware this season
Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal have a lot to improve on despite former manager Arsene Wenger claiming they have “no weak position”.
The Gunners have made a sensational start to the season after winning five of their opening six Premier League games to sit top of the table. They also won their first Europa League fixture of the campaign, beating FC Zurich 2-1 in Switzerland earlier this month.
Arsenal are looking to return to the Champions League and challenge for trophies under Arteta over the next few seasons. They haven’t played in Europe’s premier competition since March 2017 and won just one major honour during the last five campaigns.
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Wenger enjoyed a successful 22-year spell in charge of Arsenal – winning three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups – before leaving in 2018. He believes they can challenge the likes of Manchester City and Liverpool for the Premier League title this term.
“I would say they are moving in the right direction,” Wenger said of Arsenal at an event to promote former vice-chairman David Dein’s new book. “I honestly think there is no weak position in the team. They are young, promising players and they have bought well this year.
“There is no completely dominating team this season and Arsenal has a chance with the potential that is there. We used to be in the top four and why not again? You cannot even rule out the fact that they can fight for the title and hopefully they can do it.”
Yet Arteta doesn’t agree. “It’s great to hear that from Arsene after being with him every single day!” he told Sky Sports. “But I see a lot of things that we still have to improve on and get better at. We are heading in the right direction but we can become much, much better.”
Arsenal are back in Premier League action on Sunday, when they travel to Brentford. The Gunners will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last year’s performance at the Community Stadium, as they lost 2-0 to Thomas Frank’s side on the opening day of the campaign.
Remembering that result, Arteta said: “It was all building up a lot. The way everyone reacted after the first game of the season, it was big.
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“But that tells you the expectations of the football club you are in, how much passion and love here is for this club and how quickly you can turn things around. You have to be prepared for that and you have to be analytical about why things happen.”
Arteta went on to say: “One of the big lessons was: stay calm in the difficult moments, understand why things happen and move on.”
