Can Arteta handle the pressure today? by Darren N
It has been a rollercoaster of a season for all Arsenal fans, with many peaks and troughs alomg the way. A few weeks ago we were looking odds-on to ensure that we finished in Fourth Place, but the last couple of games have plummeted us back down into the depths of despair.
So now the pressure is mounting on Mikel Arteta, as he has to try and get the Gunners back into an upwards trajectory to give us a chance to deal with the much harder fixtures coming soon. If we lose today, then we won’t just have to give up on the Top Four, we may risk dropping back out of the European places completely in the next few weeks.
Southampton are in terrible form at the moment and are ripe for the picking, but we said exactly the same last week when we played Brighton at home, and we all know how that turned out. The MUST NOT happen again this week.
If Tottenham beat Brighton in the early kick off, Arsenal will be six points behind our rivals with two games in hand which means we now have to beat every opponent put in front of us, starting today.
It is bad enough that we will be without Tomiyasu, Tierney, Thomas Partey and possibly Alexandre Lacazette as well, so it is imperative that Arteta gets his team and tactics absolutely spot on, which he certainly didn’t do last week when we saw our youngsters running around like headless chickens with no idea of what they were doing.
I am sure Arteta has studied the way that Chelsea completely destroyed the Saints last week, so there will be no excuses if we fail to do the same, if we really want to be considered to be a Top Six team.
The pressure is truly on today, and I dread to think of the reaction from the fans if we don’t take all three points very easily. Arteta MUST get everything right today or….
Darren N
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Video – Mikel Arteta on the Southampton clash and our injury situation
Today is important, how much Arteta learned since he came in as manager, and also can he get HIS players to step up and deliver.
The pressure is on now and for the rest of the season, so let’s see how the boys handle things.