Arsenal could still make the top four this season according to Mikel Arteta.
The Spaniard has managed the team to win just a single league game since he was named their new manager late last year.
The Gunners are also ten points behind Chelsea who are occupying the final Champions League spot, however, Arteta is confident that Arsenal can still make a late successful charge towards the top four.
The Gunners have been struggling for wins but they are unbeaten in all competitions this year but converting draws into wins remains a problem.
Arteta has spent more time with his players and he has also managed to integrate his new signings into the group.
He will be hoping that their time away would have helped the players to develop the winning mindset that they need to finish games off.
“I want to go game by game,” Arteta is quoted as saying by the Evening Standard.
“At the moment we are far from it, but there are a lot of games to play. It is very tight. Everybody is giving points away. It will depend on us. If we are able to put three or four wins in a row, we will be much closer,” he explained.
“I just want to improve game by game and day by day. I think we have to talk about the present and not much about the future.”
Arsenal will take on Newcastle in their next league game and a win could be the start of a winning run that may enable them to take advantage of the other top-four hopefuls who are struggling with inconsistent form.
Ceballos to MARCA: “I’m p***** off because I had never got injured and unfortunately it happened when the team started to fade. When I left (Ceballos travelled to Madrid to recover from his injury) we were fifth or sixth, three or four points off the Champions League. I watched Arsenal games and I could see we were in a dynamic where it was hard to get points.”
Sure, we’ve missed you pal!
I’m expecting a lot from The Arsenal against Newcastle.
The break has been the first real opportunity for MA to sit down and discuss at length his vision, without another important game looming fresh injuries or red cards to bother about.
It has also been the perfect introduction for our two new signings to integrate into the squad, making this the perfect timing for a winter break.
It will also give us, the fans, an idea of the formation and players he sees to take his vision forward – 4th spot is a long way off, but I’m sure we all remember that twit of a bookie paying out winnings for manure, only for us to win the league!!!
Based on our fear of winning mentality, we will not finish in the top 4. Each time I watch Arsenal, I am nervous whenever the opposing team gets into the last third of the pitch. We are currently where we absolutely belong. The table does not lie. However, strange things can happen. Even under hapless Emery, we went on a run of games which masked his deficiencies. Can we finish top 4? Yes. But will we? No!
Let’s hope we go on a winning streak starting from Newcastle, I hope the players are ready and rearing to go after the break. I think our defensive side of the game is improving, but the creativity is lacking, we’re struggling to break teams down, and our strikers might just have to be highly lethal in front of goal, until the summer at least, when I hope we will get much better midfielders. Torreira is the only one I’ll keep, of our starting midfielders. We might lose one or both of our strikers too, and I’d rather we keep Aubameyang, if he’s still interested in playing for us. I believe we still need a top CB, and an RB (if Cedric doesn’t impress) to really compete next season. Hopefully, Arteta has already set his preparation in motion.