Mikel Arteta says he is keen to see ‘fighters’ within his Arsenal ranks and has attempted to justify the club’s disastrous start to the season with a number of strange statistics.
Arsenal have endured their worst-ever start to a Premier League season and have failed to win in any of their previous seven league fixtures, the club’s 2-1 defeat at Everton leaving the Gunners perilously close to the relegation places.
Just four points currently separates the north London side from the Premier League’s bottom three, and Arteta’s side will be hoping to gain some momentum when they face Manchester City in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals tomorrow evening.
Ahead of a clash with the reigning holders, Arteta has sought to justify his side’s recent results in the Premier League and reeled off a bizarre barrage of statistics in a bid to prove Arsenal should be picking up more points.
“Last year we won the game against Everton with a 25 per cent chance of winning, you win 3-2,” he said at his pre-match press conference.
“Last weekend, it was a 67 per cent chance of winning, any Premier League game in history, and a nine per cent chance of losing, and you lose.
“Three per cent against Burnley and you lose, seven per cent against Spurs, and you lose.
“There is something else apart from that, it is not just the performance on the pitch, it is something else that needs to go our way and at the moment it doesn’t.
“Saying that, it doesn’t care and you lose, and the only thing that anyone cares is that you lose a football match and this what he hear.”
Arteta was asked how he would have dealt with the club’s current predicament as a player and says he would liked to have seen ‘fighters’ around him in the dressing room, urging his side not to become ‘victims’ and insisting there is no place for negativity as they seek to turn their fortunes around.
“I liked to look around me, whether it’s the staff, coaches, players and I wanted to see fighters,” he added.
“Normally when that happens, you have two types of people: fighters and victims.
“You need fighters and you don’t want any victims. Victims bring excuses, victims bring negativity and they start to blame anything that is happening around them or is not going their way.
“You need people who fight, people who contribute and people who are ready to give everything to the club in this moment.”
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