Following a poor start to the new Premier League season, Arsenal have enjoyed a positive run in the league of late.
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With the international break done and dusted, the action returns to club football. Arsenal will hope to continue the good momentum they built in recent matches. Following a poor start to the new Premier League season, Arsenal have enjoyed a positive run in the league after the last international break. Next up is Crystal Palace for the Gunners on the weekend. Ahead of the clash, their manager Mikel Arteta was asked about being named as the Premier League manager of the month. “Yeah, it is not personal because it is [also for] all the people behind who help to achieve those trophies,” he was quoted as saying by the club’s website.
“It is nice and we will now just focus on the next thing, which is win more football matches and hopefully there will be more to come because that would mean we are doing the right things.” Speaking about how quickly things change in football, he said, “It is the opportunity that this gamer gives you and you have to stand up, keep believing, work hard, be critical and analyse things to try to change them and improve them. Football always gives you another opportunity.”
Arteta also gave an update on the team news and the latest situation on Granit Xhaka. “At the moment everyone seems to be okay. Granit is progressing really well but obviously we know it is a long-term injury unfortunately and he’s not going to be available,” the manager said.
“With Granit, I don’t know, but I’m sure that if you tell him three [months], he will be thinking two [months]. He will be trying to do extra work to try to minimise that time, that’s for sure. We have to do it in the right way because it’s a significant injury and we want to have him back properly when he can.”
When asked if Thomas Partey will be ready for Crystal Palace, Arteta replied, “Well, let’s see. We haven’t had the players here yet. Some of them because they’re still travelling and they’ve not been assessed by the medical staff, but hopefully. He finished both games really well. He played well and scored a couple of goals like many other players did in this international break, and hopefully, everybody is in the right condition on Monday to help us win the game.”
Asked whether the international break will help the team again, the Spaniard replied, “It is what it is. We managed to turn things around a little bit [during the previous international break] but there is still a big margin for improvement. But we got important results that were very needed in that moment and we just need to think about doing things better, progressing up the table and focus on winning our next match.”
Arteta also believes that the team can improve their efficiency in front of the goal. “There have been many areas [of focus], that is one of them obviously. The players we have available here to work because of internationals is very limited but it is certainly something we can do better and improve in our efficiency in front of goal, and when we get that balance right it will obviously help us to win more games,” he added.
