Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes his side can turn the Emirates Stadium into a ‘fortress’.
The Gunners will welcome Sheffield United to North London tomorrow as they look to build on their impressive home form, in which they have remained unbeaten in the league during 2020.
The last home defeat in the Premier League came against Chelsea back in December for manager Arteta’s first official match in charge, with eight wins and two draws from the following 10 fixtures.
The boss is now targeting an extended run of results, and is keen for the performances to match those results.
“We can create a fortress at the Emirates,” Arteta told Arsenal Media. “It’s going to be crucial for the future results at the end of the season, not just for results but as well for the performance and what we can inspire, what we can transmit at home.
“We want to play with that confidence at home where we have to be really resilient and dominate games to impose ourselves in those games.
“I think the game on Sunday is a really difficult one. I watched Sheffield United’s games already and they deserved much more from those games. The way they played is tricky, so I’m expecting a really difficult game.”
The visit of the Blades shouldn’t pose too much of a threat despite Arteta’s reluctance to boast any confidence. They are yet to notch up a single league goal from their opening three matches, while our side has been in red-hot form winning all but one of our matches so far this season, despite coming up against the Premier League champions on three occasions, in three different competitions.
Has Arteta already turned the Emirates into a fortress? Or does his comments mean that he expects better performances to go with the positive results we have enjoyed thus far?
Patrick
If after Monday our midfield is Elneny, Xhaka and Ceballos the last thing the Emirates will be is a ‘Fortress’. Words mean little, players mean a lot. What scares me is that we will have precisely that midfield of Elneny, Xhaka and Ceballos after Monday. To leave our midfield down to the wire when Boubakary Soumaré is buyable…. RIGHT NOW…..and the player wants to come to Arsenal. If Plan A is Aouar, then for ****s sake do plan B before we get double stuffed. I totally support Arteta but my worry is he gets OCD obsessed with who he wants and misses other top players. Boubakary Soumaré was a top midfield player last season in Ligue 1, as anyone who watches Ligue 1 will know, and we can afford him. If we cannot get Aouar and Partey we still NEED a midfield player.
In terms of Football, until fans return ,the word “fortress” is not really appropriate.I do of course appreciate what Arteta is trying to create, but without a loyal support inside the ground, the Emirates, or indeed any stadium will never become a fortress in the true sense.A long unbeaten run at home would of course be very welcome.
Yeah…by playing 5 defenders every game,it’s easy to keep it tight at the back..22 years of Wenger has shown me one thing,You know a Manager by the calibre of players he signs.Arteta has had a second Transfer window and all he has signed are Defenders..With our midfield options we are not going to be dominating any team any time soon…We were lucky against Westham,just thinking how long we would ride on our luck
Liverpool had 17shots at goal half of
Watfords last season. If Arteta wants
ES to be a fortress, he has to curb the opposition from unleashing so many shots.
Switch from this 3-4-3 to 4-3-3.
I get it’s been working well so far but I’ve always hated that formation right from the days of Emery.
Too defensive
Funny how both managers started with 4-3-3, but switched to 3-4-3 after some shambolic performances.
Let’s hope Arteta can implement a system that works with 4-3-3, sooner rather than later
Highbury was a “fortress” while the Emirates has yet to become one.
Grounds become “fortresses” when the fans see results, just look at Anfield under Brenda and now, under Klopp.
What about the spuds under their myriad of managers at WHL compared to manure while Fergie was in charge to now.
It’s all about results for the average fan and, having been lucky enough to have had a s/t since The Emirates opened, I know that the fans will become just as important as they were at Highbury…all we need is for MA to carry on as he is and for the virus to disappear and let us do our job.
57,000 full on Gooners will be awesome, just as 35,000 were at Highbury!!! COYG!!!!
Toot toot toot of the bugle
That was a rallying cry if ever there was, Ken for us to get behind Arteta and the team
No stadium without fans in it can ever become a fortress and that needs saying . MA is of course merely trying to rally his troops and calling for it is one thing- indeed a good thing – but in reality it is fans that make a ground a fortress and fans right now are rather thin on the ground – or rather, thin IN the ground! And likely to be so for some considerable time to come, even if a few are allowed in.
Just look at how an average striker like Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Iwobi , who people branded “average” are playing under Ancelloti….
The Leeds coach comes out and says ‘I want to take risks, not play safe’.
That alone shows you how difficult the future is for us.
Getting back into the stadium would be a start!! Haven’t a scooby when that’ll be though… and tbh with the way things are going, the last place I want to be is on the tube!!
I don’t see why MA can’t turn the Ems into a fortress eventually though…
Everton are on a roll.
Btw since our last title in 2004, all of these guys have left us to win the premier league:
Cole
Fabregas
Kolo toure
Clichy
Nasri
Van Persie
Oxlade-Chamberlain
Walcott & Iwobi to score against us and be eighth and ninth players on this list come may? If so we are done for.
Now that we have failed in Arteta’s transfer fantasy……Aouar, Boubakary Soumaré is still available. He is a stunner. ARTETA get him. Wake up, too much obsession with one player is unhealthy. Boubakary Soumaré is available he may well be a better buy than Aouar.
When you consider the squad that arteta has but still doing well, I trust in him that he will create a strong team with a good defence hard to break. We need to stop too much negativity and get behind the team. Arteta needs time to create the team he feels is good to compete.