Manager Mikel Arteta has encouraged Arsenal to “show what they are made of” in Sunday’s north London derby with Spurs as they look to bounce back from their draw with Wolves.
Arsenal’s title credentials are being called into question after they surrendered a two-goal lead to the club bottom of the Premier League at Molineux.
Pep Guardiola’s side defeated Newcastle 2-1 on Saturday night to close the gap to two points, but Arteta insisted his players were ready to get back on track in Sunday’s game, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
Wednesday’s result means Arsenal have dropped seven points since the start of the year and have won just two of their last seven Premier League games.
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Highlights of the 2-2 draw between Arsenal and Wolves
Sunday, February 22nd 4pm
4:30pm kickoff
The fact that Arteta was asked in his pre-match press conference about the “bottlers” tag that has been directed at the team from some quarters amounts to intense psychological scrutiny.
“That’s not part of my vocabulary,” he retorted.
“What I saw was another huge response, which didn’t surprise me at all.
“When you lose a point on the last kick of a game in a very unpredictable way, no one can really understand it.
“But this is football, that’s the beauty of football.
“It was a chapter. We had a long season and Chapter 27 says we drew like this against Wolves.
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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says Sunday’s match against Tottenham is a match in which they can show their rivals what they are capable of!
“What I’m interested in is the next team. What does this team consist of? What do we do about this and how do we chart our own destiny from here and beyond?”
“That’s it. Life moves on and you have to react to it. Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do. But what we can do is what happens next.”
Asked if Sunday’s derby, with Igor Tudor in charge of the first game against Spurs in 16th place, would be the biggest in recent memory, Arteta added: “It’s the next game and it’s a game we can’t wait to play.”
“We all want to play this game today and get that feeling in our stomachs and use it in the right way.
“We’ve got to show it on Sunday.”
Arsenal could welcome Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz back from injury at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with manager Arteta saying there was a “huge chance” they would be available.
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Declan Rice has spoken candidly about Arsenal’s draw with Wolves at Molineux, saying he believes they still have the mentality they need to win trophies.
Tudor is ‘100 percent sure’ Spurs will survive
While Arsenal are in contention for the title, Spurs remain just two places above the drop zone.
However, new manager Tudor is adamant that they will not be relegated under his management.
Asked how confident he was that Spurs would remain in the Premier League next season, Tudor declared: “100 per cent.”
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Igor Tudor has given his first interview as Tottenham Hotspur’s head coach. X Credit: @SpursOfficial.
Tudor has previously said he doesn’t want his players to only think about the relegation battle, but only the effort they need to put in to improve.
“This is not important. You compete for any position, be it relegation, first place or UEFA position, you get that position thanks to what you did that week and on Sunday. It’s a result. You don’t gain anything by thinking about relegation.”
“All these goals are far away. I never give them importance. I never talk about results or what I want to achieve at the end of the season. I don’t believe in this. I believe in today’s training. That’s all I want the players to think about. The standings are the result.”
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Mickey van de Ven meets former Tottenham Hotspur captain Michael Dawson to discuss Thomas Frank’s departure, Tudor’s arrival and preparations for the North London derby.
“Five, 10, two points (above the relegation zone), it’s the same. We need to focus. Let’s focus on this and see what we can achieve. Nothing comes of looking down or looking up.”
Asked what he said to the players, Tudor said: “The players want to be clear about what we want. That was the goal: to send a message about our values and how we want to play.”
On facing Arsenal in the first game, he added: “It’s a great game to start again. We’ve heard a lot of good things about them. We need to show they care and we want to make changes soon.”
All eyes will be on who will captain the team in the absence of Cristian Romero, who is currently suspended. “We’ll find out on Sunday.”
