Mikel Arteta wants Arsenal to embrace the pressure of competing for trophies after the club’s recent dip in form.
Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth at the weekend in a defeat that dented their title aspirations. The Gunners have lost three of their last four in all competitions, exiting both domestic cups in the process. Before that run, Arsenal had lost only three times all season.
The North Londoners face Sporting CP in the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tomorrow, leading 1-0 from the first encounter.
Ahead of the game, Arteta called for perspective and said Arsenal must embrace the challenge of winning major silverware.
“The players need perspective on where they are in the Champions League and the Premier League,” the Spaniard said at his pre-match press conference.
“We need to embrace that, and the higher you are, the bumpier it gets. I am more demanding, and the line is thinner between being the best and the worst, and you have to cope with that.
“The motivation is to give the people who deserve it what they are looking for. It’s not for the rest.
“The energy is on these people because they are the ones who deserve it.”
