Arteta vows Arsenal will ‘hammer’ away at Reds’ lead

The Arsenal forward has been called ‘a bit of a moaner’ by his manager but he has a vital role to play this season

1 Jan 2025 - The Guardian

David Hytner

Mikel Arteta has warned Liverpool that his Arsenal team are ready to hammer away at the points gap over the second half of the season if they wobble at the top of the Premier League table.

Liverpool have surged to the summit on the back of 14 wins from 18 games, with three draws, and they have a commanding nine-point advantage over Arsenal, who are broadly considered to be their likeliest challengers, with both sides having a game in hand on secondplaced Nottingham Forest.

Arteta, who takes his team to Brentford today, has urged his players to turn the focus inwards and adopt a remorseless attitude. Arsenal drew 2-2 at home against Liverpool in October. The return at Anfield is scheduled for 10 May, the sides’ thirdlast match of the season.

“It doesn’t depend on us,” Arteta said. “But we have to continue to be like a hammer, be there every day, every day. If someone wins all the matches then we congratulate them and go to the next season. If they don’t – and in history, it hasn’t happened – then we will be there.”

Arteta believes his team have grown compared to last season. “We’ve proved that already, I’m sure of that,” he said. “If this had happened last season – the number of games we’ve played with 10 men [after red cards], the injuries in the squad, for sure it would be difficult to be in the stages of the competitions we are in now.”

He said his new year resolution was to “keep everybody fit – that’s it”. He added: “It is full focus on Brentford because our minds have to be on what we have to do. Brentford are very tough, a really good team. If you see their record at home until the Saturday before last [when they lost for the first time this season against Nottingham Forest], it’s remarkable.”

Trossard on a quest to show Arteta he can fill Saka’s boots

In the manager-praises-ownplayer stakes, it is not perhaps what might be expected. “Yeah, Leo naturally is a bit of a moaner,” Mikel Arteta says, as he considers Arsenal’s New Year’s Day game at Brentford and how Leandro Trossard stands to have an impact on it.

Everyone at Arsenal knew what Arteta means. We have all got a mate like Trossard, always grumbling and not always about the big things. It is how they are, piping up about this and that; the price of a pint, the weather, how long it takes to get something done, people’s foibles. It does not make you dislike them or love them any less.

With Trossard, who has been in and out of Arteta’s Premier League lineup since his move from Brighton in January 2023 – 39 starts, 33 appearances as a substitute – it is tempting to imagine how he is when he is out.

Remember the beginning of the season? Trossard was plainly upset to have been on the bench for the first two games against Wolves and Aston Villa, having finished the previous campaign strongly – as a starter, ahead of Gabriel Martinelli. Now Arteta preferred Martinelli. When Trossard came on for him at Villa in the 65th minute and scored almost immediately for 1-0, he did not celebrate. The subtext was clear.

Arteta loved it. This is the kind of reaction he wants from his players and the thing to say about Trossard is that he can be unhappy when he is out of the team and still a part of the overall chemistry. His good sense of humour makes him popular. His direct nature is a positive.

“Leo is very competitive,” Arteta says. “You have training sessions … he’s [also] always busy with the referee’s decision, and it’s because he wants to win. That’s what I love.

“He always wants to be the best and when he’s not there [in the lineup], he’s not happy. But that’s what pushes him. That’s where when he comes in the pitch, he can make an impact because he’s got that drive, that anger which says: ‘I’m gonna show you.’”

It is a reflection of how highly Trossard is valued at Arsenal that they refused to countenance an offer for him from the Saudi Pro

League at the start of September; one that, as an aside, would have brought him eye-watering personal wealth. It is not just Trossard’s statistics, although they are fundamental; the 17 goals in all competitions last time out, the 10 league assists in his first half-season at the club.

It is the hunger, the ability to be decisive in a number of positions. Most at home on the left wing, Trossard has also starred in a false 9 role and even as the left-sided No 8. The target for him must be greater consistency because he has it in him to hit the high notes.

Trossard has entered a stage of great opportunity. When Arsenal took on Ipswich at the Emirates last Friday, there was a spotlight on their right flank. It was understandable as Bukayo Saka, the team’s poster boy (with Martin Ødegaard), began a long layoff after undergoing hamstring surgery.

Raheem Sterling is out with a knee injury, even if the damage is not as bad as was first feared, and Arteta’s move was to switch Martinelli over from the left wing. The pressure was intense. How would Martinelli do? Not so well, it turned out. He struggled against compact, well-drilled opposition.

It was Trossard who made it happen. His return to the starting XI on the left had been lower profile. But when he exploded past the Ipswich defender Ben Johnson to tee up Kai Havertz, he had a statement assist and Arsenal the goal that gave them a 1-0 victory.

Arsenal have become wearily familiar with teams that set up in a low block, especially at the Emirates. It is a byproduct of their progress under Arteta. They simply have to find a way through and so an attacker who can beat his man takes on huge significance.

It is possible that Arteta may seek a solution to Saka’s absence in the January transfer window. Trossard intends to show that reinforcements are not needed.

“Leo has shown a lot more consistency in the last 12 months,” Arteta says. “He’s had a lot of competition in his position. That’s it, raise the level. If he plays at that level [as he did against Ipswich] then he will play like anyone else. He has the capacity to do something special in the final third.”