Call on Arsenal to ensure Arteta remains at club
ARSENAL must hold on to manager Mikel Arteta in the long run as he has created something special at the club, midfielder Jorginho said, with his coach yet to renew his contract that expires at the end of next season.
With two games to go, Arsenal are fighting for the Premier League title against champions Manchester City, who have a match in hand.
“I feel that he could stay way longer,” Jorginho said. “I feel he feels good here and I honestly don’t see him going.
“It is really important for the club for him to stay because he, with (technical director) Edu (Gaspar) and the board, the whole club, they have created something special.
“What he (Arteta) has been doing here since he joined has been incredible. It is not just a coincidence that we are where we are now.”
Former Arsenal player Arteta became manager in 2019, and the Spaniard has been linked with a move to Barcelona.
Manchester City won at Fulham yesterday to top the log, and Arsenal visit Manchester United this afternoon.
Speaking about the trip to Old Trafford, Arteta said Arsenal must cling to the belief that they can pip City to the Premier League title.
All City need to do to retain the title is to win all their remaining matches.
Arsenal have a terrible record at Old Trafford – they have won just once there in the league since 2006 – but they are facing a troubled United team who have lost their way under beleaguered boss Erik ten Hag.
Arteta, speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, said his players must keep their focus even though they are not in control of the title race.
“We have to think it is going to work, and what’s going to work is that we try to be better than our opponents and beat them, and the final outcome, that will be something else,” the Spaniard said.
“At the moment that is not in our control. We know the difficulty in our history when you look at what we’ve done over there (at Old Trafford) so we’re going to have to be at our best to earn the right to win the game.”
Arteta warned that United remain dangerous despite winning just two of their past 10 league matches.
United forward Alejandro Garnacho thought he had won the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium in September, but his late goal was ruled out for offside and Arsenal scored twice in the final minutes to win 3-1.
“That tells you the difficulty of facing them, their quality,” said Arteta.
City are chasing an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title.
“They’ve been on an unbelievable journey in the last 10 or 15 years, but we want to change that.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to improve and get better and better,” said Arteta, who previously worked as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at City. |