“We’re going to really go for it” : Mikel Arteta sends a message to Liverpool after closing the gap on the league leaders
Mikel Arteta’s men earned a crucial victory against Leicester City on Saturday. This has helped the Gunners to close the gap on league leaders Liverpool. Arsenal are now just four points behind Liverpool, with their rivals facing Wolves on Sunday.
Mikel Merino’s heroics helped Arsenal claim all three points against the Foxes. The match was heading for a 0-0 draw, before the Spaniard scored two goals in the final 10 minutes of the match. Mikel Merino was deployed as make-shift centre forward in the absence of the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Bukayo Saka.
The super sub scored a header to give the visitors a lead, and calmly put the ball into the back of the next with his left foot for his second goal. This victory has helped Arsenal to maintain the pressure on Liverpool, who dropped points against Everton last week.
“Yes, and it was [important] for us as well. Everything that happened in the last few days, it was a lot of noise to show how much we want it, because regardless of what happens, we’re going to really go for it, that we believe for the resources that we have and the quality of our players and still adapt and be competitive and still win a lot of football matches,” Arteta had said, following their victory over Leicester.
Mikel Arteta answers if Mikel Merino can solve Arsenal’s problem up top
Mikel Arteta gave his opinion if Mikel Merino could be his go-to striker for the rest of the season. The Spaniard has been facing a huge selection dilemma over the past couple of weeks, with several forwards being sidelined due to injury.
Mikel Arteta stated that different players could be used in the false number nine role depending on the situation and player availability. He hopes that they can perform as well as Mikel Merino did against the Foxes.
“We’re going to have to share that, we know that. We’re going to have various contexts; sometimes we’re going to have to make a sub because a player isn’t performing, or because the opposition is doing something else, or because someone’s a yellow card, or it’s fatigue, that’s going to restrict what we do really in terms of the personnel. We have prepared for different scenarios then those have to work, hopefully they will work as good as Mikel worked today,” he added.
Mikel Arteta further heaped praise on the Spaniard stating that he has a good sense of his positioning, and has an eye for the goal. Moreover, he also mentioned the delivery he received for both of his goals, which were near inch perfect.
“I didn’t think that to be fair [on the comparisons to Marouane Fellaini], but Mikel has got that. He’s a goal threat, because he can smell danger, he can anticipate the action, he’s got really good timing to arrive into certain areas and then he obviously has the capacity to execute with that part of his body. He needed the delivery, certainly had that as well and he put it into the back of the net,” said the Arsenal boss.
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