Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta has commended his players’ reaction to Wednesday night’s disappointing draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers, which could have extended their lead had they won, insisting the squad displayed resilience despite dropping points.
Recall that on Wednesday, Arsenal were forced to a 2-2 draw with Wolves after surrendering a two-goal lead in the first half, which blew their chances of extending their lead in the English Premier League (EPL).
Despite the outcome, Arteta, during Friday’s pre-match conference, said he was marvelled by the positive attitude from the players in the dressing room after the match.
“What I’ve seen is a tremendous reaction again, and I’m not surprised at all. I mean, when you lose points in the last kick of the game again, in a very unpredictable manner, I would say, because to predict somebody with a 0.2 expected goals probability and one shot, to concede an equaliser in the manner that we did it, nobody can really understand that. But this is football, and that’s the beauty of it, and that was a chapter,” Arteta said.
Putting the past behind them, Arteta described the result as part of their journey in the race to clinch the EPL title after more than two decades — 22 years.
“So, we have a long season. Chapter 27 says, okay, we draw against Wolves in this manner. What I’m very interested in is the next one, it’s what we are made of. Ok, what do we do about this and how we write our own destiny from here and going forward, and that’s it,” he added.
News.ng reports that as the North London derby nears, when they face rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday at 4:00 pm (WAT), Arsenal remain undeterred, irrespective of the closeness of Manchester City, as Arteta rubbished any form of fear over the possibility of losing the title.
“You have to react to that because life moves on, the result has to stay, unfortunate as it was. There is nothing that we can do; what we can do is a lot, it’s what’s going to happen next.”
The Gunners will go into Sunday’s match against Spurs with one thing in mind — the maximum three points — as they are five points (58) ahead of City (53).