Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has dropped a word of encouragement to his players ahead of their Champions League game. The Spanish international called on his side to use the “pain” of their first loss in six months as motivation for their Champions League meeting with Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk.
Mikel Arteta Encourage Arsenal Players to Use First Loss as Motivation
The Gunners lost ground on Premier League leaders Liverpool on Saturday after they were beaten 2-0 at Bournemouth following William Saliba’s first-half sending off. The London club makes a return to European action on Tuesday when they host Shakhtar at Emirates Stadium and Arteta wants his players to quickly “move on” after the loss.
According to Mikel Arteta, he said: “You have a defeat, that’s part of the game, it happens in very specific conditions as well.” “Let’s move on, take that pain we still have in the tummy and use it for tomorrow night.” “It puts a bit of perspective into the situation. Obviously we want to win in any context. The reality is that we have made that context very difficult for ourselves.”
The manger also said: “It was very difficult already with the amount of players that we had out and the schedule and the games that we had to play, but that’s the reality.” “For that game we didn’t get away with it. We could have done and it could have been a very different narrative, but the reality is we didn’t. Another context is that we have lost one game in six months. Now we have to win again.”
Arteta was about the availability of Saka and he said, the winger Bukayo will have to be assessed over his fitness first. Remember the player picked up an injury while on international duty for England. For midfielder and captain Martin Odegaard, the Norwegian star remains sidelined. Arteta said he had sympathy for the Ukrainians, who are forced to play ‘home’ games in Germany while the war continues in their own country.
Mikel Arteta said: “They are closer. They are both progressing really well,” said the Arsenal boss. Arteta also says defender Jurrien Timber could return after picking up a muscular injury during Arsenal’s last Champions League fixture against Paris St-Germain. “He [Timber] is going to be close. We have to see how he deals with training with the whole group. It was a muscular injury,” added Arteta.
Arsenal is looking to book their second win after playing a goalless draw and a win over PSG.
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