Mikel Arteta rallies Arsenal for ‘unprecedented’ title race as Premier League restarts

Mikel Arteta talks to his players before a mid-week friendly on Wednesday

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta called for his side to embrace their “unprecedented” opportunity to clinch their first Premier League title since 2004.

The Gunners led the league as the top flight paused for the World Cup, and will return to action on Boxing Day when they host West Ham under the lights.

Their league-leading form has created an electric atmosphere at the Emirates, but Arteta insisted his side’s title hopes were grounded in more than just the increasingly vocal expressions of optimism from supporters.

“It’s not just a feeling, it’s as well facts and the stats are supporting that the team is deserving to win games, which is especially my job,” he told Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football.

“You know, I want the team to play a certain way, and the more consistent we are on that the more we are going to win.

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“Unfortunately football you can shoot 30 times and concede one shot and you can lose 1-0, but I think in the long run you’re going to be where you deserve to be and we have the confidence that we are on the right path, but as well we have all the red lights and alarms because what is coming in the second part of the season is something unprecedented and we need to be ready for it.

“There is excitement, and we should be excited and we should be embracing the opportunity that we have ahead of us understanding that we have to do much better a lot of things that we are already doing really, really well and that’s it.”

Arteta’s starting XI has been the second-most consistent across the top flight, though he admitted an increasingly crowded fixture list will likely force him into more rotations.

He said: “That’s something that obviously we are very aware of. The type of game that we’ve had to play in Europe has allowed us to make a lot of changes and have a fresher squad for the weekend and then we’ve repeated the starting XI a lot.

“In the second half I don’t think that’s going to be the same type of numbers. We’re going to be playing every three days, the congestion and the amount of games that we have to play is going to be incredible, and we’re going to gave more resources and more players to be able to do that.”

The Gunners enter the second half five points clear of Manchester City, setting up a potentially poetic finish to the Premier League season should Arteta’s side best that of his childhood hero Pep Guardiola.

“He was my idol,” said Arteta, who met Guardiola when he was 15 years old. “He was the one to try to emulate.”

When you have a person that is so determined, so clear, so focused and has such strong beliefs you just die for him (Guardiola)

Guardiola kept trying to persuade his Spanish compatriot to join his coaching staff, which Arteta eventually did when he retired from playing and became assistant manager at City in 2016.  Convincing players to adopt their philosophy, he said, was relatively straightforward, despite some decisions “going against the culture of English football”.

Arteta said:  “It’s going to take a while to break that wall, but when you have a person that is so determined, so clear, so focused and has such strong beliefs you just die for him.”

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Now the 40-year-old is forging his own path into unprecedented territory, hoping to guide the club he once captained to his first title as their manager.

While he can draw inspiration from Guardiola’s success, Arteta warned: “That’s the secret of it. It’s great to get some things from other managers or even to copy, but you cannot copy and paste. It doesn’t work, unfortunately.”

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