”No Fear, Pure Fire!” Mikel Arteta delivers updates and a rallying cry ahead of Arsenals quarter-final second round clash with Sporting Lisbon
”No Fear, Pure Fire! ” Mikel Arteta delivers updates and a rallying cry ahead of Arsenals quarter-final second round clash with Sporting Lisbon Mikel Arteta took to the press today and issued updates across his players fitness, their mentality heading into the run-in and what he expects his side to do in the final games of the season. It has seemed for the longest time that this would be Arsenal’s year, not just in the Premier League, but across every competition including the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League.
It has been a bruising few weeks for that dream as the Gunners lost to Man City in the final, exited the FA Cup to Southampton and, after a defeat at home to Bournemouth, have seen their gap to Manchester City shorten slightly too. There has been a running joke in football for the past few seasons that Arsenal’s season always blows up in both their and their, sometimes volatile fans faces. It may be an over-generalisation but for manager Mikel Arteta, the outside noise must be hard to ignore.
They do have the chance to end this barren streak and progress to their second successive Champions League semi-final, Sporting Lisbon are formidable opponents however, and Arteta was more than complimentary of his opponents. ”I’m not surprised [about Sporting], there is an understanding of the quality they have and the ways they can hurt you. They’re a really really good side.
” Arteta will be hoping to get past Sporting Lisbon to put the side on their way to attaining their first silverware in over six seasons. ”The motivation is to give to the people with us what they deserve and what they’ve been looking for for so long. ” One thing that has been levelled against Arsenal has been their intensity in their mentality, which some say has caused them to fall at the final hurdle.
Arteta was asked whether making his late games a cup final which could have damaging impacts on his teams mentality. ”Well, I wouldn’t say a cup final, but I think the importance of every game, we know what it is. We’ve done the same in September, October, November in the Champions League last year, and I think the outcome of what you’re trying to achieve at the end or the success or failure of your intention is based on the result”.