Arteta “re-energised” by squad’s belief, ready to unleash risk-taking Nwaneri

After losing key players to injury, Mikel Arteta says he and his squad are re-energised for the title race, especially after Liverpool wobbled in two of their last three matches, dropping points against Everton and Aston Villa.

While Arne Slot’s side still retains an eight-point advantage at the top of the table, Arsenal could reduce the gap to five points with a win over West Ham at the Emirates on Saturday.

It would heap the pressure on the Reds who face tricky tests against Manchester City and Newcastle in the coming days.

Ahead of a potentially season-defining week, Arteta called on his team to focus on the job at hand – beating the Hammers.

“We have to do our job and it’s going to be a tough one tomorrow against West Ham,” he told his pre-game press conference.

“If we do that, we’ll be looking at that game on Sunday. With 13 games to go there’s still a lot to play for and you can see how difficult it is for everybody to win football matches, so we need to be there.”

When Arsenal travelled to Dubai earlier in the month, the aim was for the squad to rest and recuperate before finding another gear to tackle the run-in. They certainly weren’t expecting Kai Havertz to suffer a season-ending injury in innocuous circumstances. If the loss of the German, following injuries to Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka, took the wind out of the squad’s sails, it was only temporary said Arteta.

“I don’t know if we recovered or flicked a switch and said: ‘OK, what is the opportunity now to do something again?’ Different or special for [Kai], for the teammates, for all the effort we have put in for so long again, and everything that has happened.

“It’s been very re-energising again to say: ‘OK, let’s see if we can get together and fill any gaps we have in the team with different players and different ways.’”

He later expanded: “I had those [difficult] moments, obviously, because it was a big worry losing four front players of that level and the importance of the team.

“You’re scratching your head to say, OK, how are we going to now compensate this lack of threat, of goals, of assists, of options, of who’s going to fill those minutes?

“You start to generate a lot of options, some more realistic, some of this thinking in a completely different way as well.

“And then what really re-energised me is the team, is the staff, is the players, looking at them, that if I tell them to play in any position, do anything, I know that they are ready for it and they’re going to do it really convinced. Not because it has to be done, it’s because they really feel it.”

Two years ago, Arsenal led the pack before being chased down by Manchester City in the spring. And last year, the Gunners faltered before recovering only for a single defeat in the second half of the campaign, at home to Aston Villa, to prove their undoing as Pep Guardiola’s side took the title for a fourth year in a row.

Arteta believes the experience of the last 24 months will stand his side in good stead.

“The margins are so small and everything counts. We had numbers that, in any other Premier League title race, probably could’ve won it,” he said.

“We didn’t, so that shows you the level and the difficulty of it, but the fact that we experienced it really helps because we know what it’s going to take to do it.”

Arteta certainly doesn’t believe complacency will be his side’s downfall when they tackle West Ham, one of only two sides who won at the Emirates in the league last season.

“I don’t think anybody is thinking that way because we are very experienced in the Premier League and how difficult every opponent is.

“We have a history of what happened last year here at home against them, so it’s a very different feeling.

He added: “I see an opportunity for us to keep winning and keep making our journey to the goal that we want at the end of the season, which is to win it. That’s the only thing we can focus on.

“I don’t like “ifs” in football or sport. Let’s do what we have to do, and if the “if” comes right, great, but let’s make sure that what is in our hands, we do it.”

When it was put to Arteta that he’s become “obsessed with winnig the league”, he wasn’t shy to admit that he’s dedicated to doing everything he can to help the team be as good as it can be.

“I’m obsessed with doing everything that I possibly can every single day to achieve it, that’s my obsession. I’m very obsessed by the process of that one, it consumes my whole day! I guarantee you that! But it’s the process of how you get there, the natural outcome, I cannot control it.”

While Arsenal wait for Saka and Martinelli to return from injury – both are pencilled in for returns in March – all eyes will be on 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri who is currently deputising on the right wing.

The England youth international was in sparkling form at Leicester last Saturday, further underlining that he’s comfortable at the highest level. Having been cautious about overexposing the teenager in the first half of the campaign, Arteta said it was time to “let him go”.

On the player’s development, Arteta said: “It is probably much faster than we all expected. I think what is surprising is probably the confidence and his decision-making, especially in ball possession.

“The risks that he takes, the initiative that he takes and how clever he is about ‘ok, what is the situation? If somebody is more open’. I love that in a player and now he needs to do it consistently, every three days.”

Seemingly playing without pressure, Arteta admits that he wants to give Nwaneri as much room to express himself as possible.

“For sure. Especially a player with that talent. Get him very, very far from thinking mode, let him express himself. Put him in the environment, put him in the context that he can exploit his qualities as often as he possibly can, surrounded by players that fit his qualities.

“There are certain duties in a collective sport that you have to be able to do, and do with the right timing as well. Because that is essential, especially in football. But then they have the freedom to express their creativity within certain spaces, with certain connections that are developed within the team. That are thought and agreed to improve a player’s qualities.”