Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta has praised the quality shown by young right back Hector Bellerin since being thrust into first-team action since January. The Spaniard was not expected to get many first-team opportunities this season.

This was after Arsenal signed Mathieu Debuchy from Newcastle United for around £ 10 million, but the French international has largely been on the sidelines due to recurring injury problems. This combined with a shortage of central defenders has seen backup right back Monreal being moved to the centre. Arsene Wenger has trusted inBellerin and the 19-year-old has more than delivered with some fantastic performances especially against Manchester City.

Former Liverpool midfielder and current Sky Sports pundit Jamie Redknapp has been extremely critical of Mikel Arteta’s performance big matches.

The Spaniard is currently out with yet another long-term injury in a stop start season. He has featured in only seven league matches and it has raised concerns about his future. Since he is out of contract at the end of the season, the former Everton man has been linked with a return to Spanish football with Real Sociedad reportedly interested in his services. Real Sociedad are now managed by David Moyes, who took him from the Spanish club to Everton several years ago.

Florent Malouda does not think that the Chelsea coaching Staff was responsible for not him not getting playing time at the club towards the end of his career there.
As per Malouda, the coaches just did what they were asked to do by the Blues hierarchy and thus, there is no point putting blame on them.
Opening up to the press in France the other day, the veteran winger said, “They froze me out over there. They did whatever was possible to make sure that I suffer humiliation. They did not let me train with the first team. What they actually wanted to prove to me was that I didn’t have any right to make a call on my future.”

Arsenal and Arsene Wenger accomplished a milestone during the previous season as they secured the FA Cup which ended their drought of trophies which saw them not being able on lifting any major pieces of silverware in over 7 years. Even though Arsenal failed on securing the Premier League title, it still was a fairly impressive season for Wenger as they were at the top of the English League for a substantially long period of time and one of the reasons why the team of Wenger dropped places was simply because of the astonishingly high amount of injured players.

Arsenal have been tracking the Bayern Leverkusen midfielder Lars Bender in the last few weeks. The player could be signed for a reported £ 17 million in the summer. He play as the defensive midfielder for the German club. This transfer interest has started speculation about the future of midfielder Mikel Arteta. Manager Arsene Wenger determined that the future of Arteta is a major concern. The Spaniard, who came from Everton in an £ 10 million deal, only has a contract up until 2015. Wenger says that it is looking highly unlikely that Arteta will renew the deal since he might want a lengthier contract.

Some vital Arsenal players have suffered injuries off late and Mikel Arteta, the deputy skipper of the club, is worried about that, but, he hopes that his team keeps going as well as it has gone so far in the season and ends up winning the league.

In February, the Gunners will be up against a couple of strong opponents like Liverpool and Manchester United. They will have to defeat these two teams to keep themselves ahead of their title rivals, but, it’s hard to assume them doing that as they will be going into those matches with a slightly weaker line up.

Arsenal were involved in a 0-0 draw with Chelsea that hurt the chances of being top of the table on Christmas. Liverpool winning on Saturday meant that Brendan Rodgers’ men were top of the table on Christmas.

The match between Arsenal and Chelsea was a disappointment for the home team since they could not impose themselves on the match despite being the home advantage. Chelsea tried playing on the counter-attack and there were quite efficient with it. Frank Lampard came the closest to opening the scoring with an effort that hit the bar.

Arsenal were heavily interested in signing Luiz Suarez from Liverpool for £40 million in the summer, but the Merseyside club decided not to sell him at any price to one of their domestic rivals. This resulted in the Uruguayan striker staying at Anfield despite stating that he would like to join Arsenal.

This season, he has been one of the exceptional seasons of the striker after having moved to the top of the goalscoring charts despite having missed much of the opening games due to suspension.

Even though Arsenal have a top quality striker in the form of Olivier Giroud, Arteta has stated that the club could have definitely done with the presence of the 26-year-old. The former Everton midfielder knows Suarez well after having lived very close to him during his Everton days.

Mikel Arteta has admitted that the new signings have strengthened Arsenal, but, at the same time, he has also said that it is a bit too early to compare this Arsenal side to the side that had lifted the Premier League trophy in 2004.

The Gunners have looked the best team in the ongoing Premier League so far. Their start was not the greatest as they had suffered defeat in their very first game against Wigan Athletic, but, after that, they turned things around in grand fashion. They won their next 5 league games on the trot and at this point of time, they are at the first position in the points table.

Not only the Gunners are going hammer and tongs in the Premier League games, they are doing the same in the matches of other tournaments too. Yesterday, they secured a convincing victory in a Champions League game against the Italian club Napoli. That was their second successive win in the Champions League.

In the press conference after that game, when Arteta was asked if he thinks this team is good enough to repeat what the team of 2004 had done, he said, “I wouldn’t say that we have got to that level, but, one thing is for sure that we are on the right path.”

“There is a close competition in the squad. All the guys know that they need to perform consistently; otherwise, they might end up getting dropped. So, everybody is working hard and trying to give 100%.”

When asked about the new signing Mesut Ozil who was the hero of Arsenal’s victory over Napoli, Arteta said, “We are fortunate to have got a player like him. His arrival has lifted the entire squad as well as the fans.”

Spaniard Mikel Arteta was a deadline day £ 10 million signing for Arsenal. He was one of players brought in after the humiliating 8-2 defeat at the hands of Manchester United.

This is one of the biggest defeats suffered by Arsenal in their history and it was largely blamed due to the lack of new players in the team at the start of the campaign. Arsenal could be repeating history again because they have so far brought in only one player and that too on a free transfer. They have been in discussions with the likes of Liverpool and Real Madrid to sign their players, but those attempts are proving futile.

Despite the lack of new names at the club, midfielder Arteta is confident that the club will be able to bring in a few names before the end of the transfer window. Arteta was a player who was capable of playing just behind the striker. He was primarily a playmaker, but the 30-year-old has been utilised as a defensive midfielder by Arsenal recently. This is due to the lack of players in this position following the departure of Alex Song. The club, though, have been linked with a move for Bayern Munich defensive midfielder Luis Gustavo, which could put Arteta in a more advanced position once again.

“It will happen. I have no doubts about it. It takes time but I know the boss is working really hard on it, and the board as well. It will happen for sure. I am very convinced but the great players normally come at the end of the transfer window. The clubs work hard to keep their best players and I think Arsenal will do well in the transfer window. I think we are going to start the season with new faces. That is what we are all hoping for,” said Arteta.