Mikel Arteta

Spaniard Mikel Arteta used to be a creative playmaker during his Everton days, but he has been utilised more as a defensive midfielder by Arsenal since his £ 10 million move from Merseyside a few years ago.

Arsene Wenger has been using the 31-year-old as a defensive midfielder due to the lack of options, but it has become a position of his own in recent months. Arteta has now said that he has no worries about being played in a different position than he is used to playing in his career. Instead, he enjoys playing in a defensive position for Arsenal and he is happy to help the team out.

Alex Song used to be the defensive midfielder for Arsenal, but his surprise move to Barcelona meant that Arsenal were left without an option in this position at the start of the season. Arteta filled in this role, which later became his own position. It is unlikely to change in the new season as well.

Despite playing in a defensive role, Arteta contributed immensely to the team in goals as well. After making 43 appearances in all competitions, the Spaniard scored six goals in an otherwise poor season for Arsenal in which the once again failed to win any trophies.

“I feel very happy because I think I have found a level of consistency throughout the whole year. I was the man to play in a different role, I had to adapt and I did the best that I could. I have sacrificed myself a lot for the team and worked as hard as I could and tried to help my teammates. People may not understand why I don’t go forward more but this is my job, it wouldn’t be good for the team,” said the 31-year-old, who is a £ 10 million signing from Arsenal.

Arsenal are on the brink of elimination from the Champions League this season after suffering a demoralising 3-1 defeat in the first leg against Bayern Munich. The Champions League was the only hope of a trophy for Arsenal this season, and this defeat has left Wenger with a lot of pressure.

The midfielder Mikel Arteta has added more pressure on Arsenal by saying that they were simply not good enough. Arsenal were thoroughly outplayed by a Bayern Munich team that finished in the Champions League final last season. Despite this, the team spent a lot of money on high profile players like Javi Martinez.

Arsenal, on the other hand, have been refusing to buy big name players for a number of years, which has contributed to their steady downfall. It has been eight years since Arsenal has lifted a major trophy, and there have already been calls for the manager Arsene Wenger to step down from his post. The prospect of qualifying for the Champions League next season looks extremely difficult leaving the team with several questions to be answered. Arteta has said that the team made several mistakes over the course of the match that proved to be the difference between the two teams.

“For them to be 3-1 up is not good enough from us. We made some mistakes that cost us a lot in the game. That was the difference. We put everything into the game. The first time they got around the box they scored. After that we conceded a sloppy goal at a corner again. Once it is 2-0 to a big team like this, it is a difficult game to play. We took some risks and we paid for it on the break. It’s hard to get it because it’s happening most weeks,” said Arteta.

The Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has said that the 1-0 win over Wigan athletic was extremely decisive in their aim to finish in the top four this season.

Arsenal have almost lost the opportunity to win the Premier league title for yet another season. Their only hope of glory this season will be to finish in the Champions League qualification positions, which is offered to the top four teams in the Premier league. However, the poor start to the season meant that they found themselves in the 10th position after the 2-0 defeat at the hands of Swansea only a few weeks ago.

Since then, they have been able to climb up the table and have recorded three consecutive victories after the 1-0 match against Wigan in the weekend. Arteta scored the only goal of the game, which came through a penalty after Theo Walcott was fouled in the box in the second half. Arteta admitted after the match that it was one of the tough encounters that they have played so far this season and they could have easily come unstuck. This is because Wigan give them a real match and were extremely unlikely not to take anything away from the match. The Wigan manager Roberto Martinez felt that his side should have had a penalty as well.

“I think they have been unlucky with the result because the way they play is quite ‘offensive. It’s a big win for us, that’s three in a row now. I am really happy with the points. It’s been a tough game and the conditions were really difficult,” said that after the match. This victory has helped Arsenal move into the fourth position ahead of the likes of Tottenham, Everton, and Liverpool. Arsenal are also just two points below the third placed Chelsea.

The Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that he is not prepared to lay the blame on the Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta for the failure of the team to win against Fulham during the weekends. Arsenal and Fulham were involved in a very thrilling encounter at the Emirates stadium.

The match finished 3-3, which meant that Arsenal are still searching to find the best form at the moment. They have also slipped behind Tottenham and Everton in the Premier league table to the seventh position. Mikel Arteta was extremely poor in the match against Fulham. Not only did he conceded possession in key areas of the pitch that led to Fulham goals, but he also missed a penalty right at the death as well.

The penalty that was given just a few seconds before the final whistle could have given Arsenal all three points in the match after being managed a stunning performance in the second half. However, Arteta missed the penalty and Fulham are able to return to Craven cottage with a point from the fixture. After the match, Wenger said that he was not disappointed by Arteta’s inability to convert the penalty. He has said that the team had a lot of other issues that needs to be addressed.

“Of course it is frustrating because we had chances to win the game. You cannot blame Arteta for that [penalty], it is part of the game. Santi Cazorla is second on the list [of penalty takers], the number one is Arteta. I don’t think there is [self-doubt]. Some players were a bit jaded before the game and Fulham are good going forward,” said Arsene Wenger after the match. The result leaves Arsenal with the need to get three points without exception when they take on Tottenham next week.

Mikel Arteta has praised the Manchester City’s midfielder Yaya Toure and has said that there are very few midfielders in the world who are better than Toure. Arteta has given this statement ahead of Arsenal’s match against Manchester City.

The Gunners will take on Manchester City on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium. Despite the exit of some key players, Arsenal’s performance has been quite decent in the current season so far. Arsene Wenger’s team hasn’t got defeated in any of the matches that the team has played in the ongoing season.

The team has played 5 matches in the current season out of which four were the Premier League matches, while, one was the Champions League match. The team has won three out of these five matches. The remaining two ended in a draw. This is not a bad performance by a team which was hugely hampered by the exit of two of its last season heroes.

On the other hand, Manchester City has also performed decently in the current season. The team has played 6 matches so far and won three of them. The team has lost one, while, the rest two finished in the form of a draw. City lost its most recent match against Real Madrid by a close margin of 3-2.

Arteta admitted that it would be pretty tough to compete against Manchester City on its home ground, but, at the same time, he also said that Arsenal is a good enough team to give the defending Champions a run for their money.

The Spanish midfielder said, “Manchester City is a quality squad and it’s hard to find a weak link in their team. They have got all bases covered. They are also going to play on their home ground. So, that’s an additional advantage.”
“We have also performed quite well till now and it is going to a very interesting match. I am looking forward to it and hopefully, we would manage to gather all the three points in Sunday’s match.”

Want to win an Arsenal signed photo? Send us your score prediction for the next match via twitter, and you might win! 🙂

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has said that Manchester city are definitely the favourites to win the title this season. Manchester city will be heading into the new season as the holders of the title.

They can retain the title due to the fact that they have a very strong squad according to the Spanish midfielder Mikel Arteta. The former Everton midfielder was signed from the Merseyside club for £ 10 million on the deadline day of the last summer transfer window. He has been a very influential signing for Arsenal, as he almost single-handedly helped them qualify for the Champions League this season by finishing in the third position.

Arsenal have an incredible record of not having lost the game when Mikel Arteta has played for them. Despite this incredible statistic, Mikel Arteta reckons that it will be Manchester city who are the favourites to win the title due to the strength of their squad. Arsenal have already made two important signings on a total cost of £ 25 million. However, they are likely to lose the star asset Robin van Persie for around £ 30 million, while the future of Theo Walcott is also a major doubt. These two players were highly influential for Arsenal last season.

“I think Manchester City would be the favourite team in next EPL season. If we could beat them in Beijing, it would be a bright start for a new season. Anyway, Arsenal also has a big chance to fight for the title, if we could show our abilities totally, we could overcome any rivals,” said the 30-year-old midfielder while on the pre-season tour of Asia. Manchester city recently defeated Arsenal 2-0 in a friendly match. Arsenal will be facing Sunderland on the opening day of the season, while Manchester city will be up against the newly promoted Southampton.

Barcelona’s Sergio Busquets has said that his side have to win the Copa Del Rey final. In a season where their only trophy so far has been in the World Club Cup it is a chance to save their season and to ensure Pep Guardiola’s final season and Barcelona career are not remembered as an entire flop.

Barca have failed in the defence of their La Liga and Champions League titles, finishing a distant second to Real Madrid in the league and losing to eventual winners Chelsea in the Champions League. Saturday sees Barca’s season come to a close with the Copa Del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.

“We won our first final under Guardiola against Athletic, and he will leave with this exact same match, collecting many titles and installing a new philosophy”. Busquets shows that Barca are eager to ensure they get something out of a season that has been incredibly disappointing by their high standards.
Busquets and his Barcelona team mates are under no illusions that Guardiola’s tenure has been “one of the best periods in the history of the club.” And Busquets has described Guardiola as “a very special coach”.

He was also keen to stress that the change of coach is not going to affect their attitude. “We have a young team, with a lot of ambition” he told reporters, “the coach will leave and we must keep working, whether or not this coach is around.”
Busquets also spoke about his disappointment with the timing of the cup final, which falls 13 days after Barca’s league campaign came to an end against Real Betis.

“We would have preferred to play the match at an earlier date so that some of us could go on holiday, others could join their teams for Euro 2012 and others to prepare for their teams World Cup qualifiers.”

Mikel Arteta has said that even though Robin van Persie has been scoring all the goals for Arsenal, the club are not relying on this one player alone.

Mikel Arteta has done his bit in reviving the form for Arsenal in recent weeks. Arsenal struggled immediately after the loss of both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in a matter of a few months, but the arrival of Mikel Arteta seems to have worked their magic for Arsene Wenger’s men. Even though he has been struggling with a number of injury problems of late with Everton, Mikel Arteta has adapted brilliantly to Arsenal’s way of play.

As a result, the Spanish midfielder says that there’s no need for Arsenal to be relying only on Robin van Persie to help them win matches. Of course, Robin van Persie has been extremely brilliant for Arsenal in the last year, with the Dutchman just a few goals short of equalling the all-time record for number of goals scored in the calendar year set by Alan Shearer almost a decade ago.

Still, Mikel Arteta says that the club has a number of good players worthy of winning the game on their own. The interview comes after Arsenal’s huge victory over Wigan on Saturday, in which Robin van Persie scored his 32nd goal of the calendar year.

“For me, it was good the other players scored to take pressure off Robin. You cannot rely on Robin to score the goals all the time. He is on a terrific run and hopefully he can keep it up. He has so much natural quality. He is so good he makes it look as though he is not trying. He scores goals and makes them, he works hard, he is a superstar,” said the Spanish midfielder.