Mikel Arteta is eager to quickly move past the disappointment of not beating Fulham, given the relentless nature of Arsenal’s current fixture list, by securing another Champions League victory.
VAR stepped in to disallow what looked like a late Bukayo Saka winner at Craven Cottage, depriving Arsenal of a deserved victory. However, Mikel Arteta is relieved that there’s no time to dwell on the setback, with European action just a few days away.
Arteta believes the intensity of every Premier League match positions the Gunners well for these European challenges. He is confident that this will enable the Gunners to secure three points against Monaco, bringing them closer to a top-eight finish in the league phase.
Reflecting on Sunday, he said: “To concede what we conceded and how the hell we drew that game, it’s difficult to understand but that’s the beauty of football as well. We will adapt and obviously pull our heads up.”
“It was disappointing, it was very emotional as well because scoring the second one and it being disallowed, it was tough. We have to move – every three days it’s another opportunity and we need to keep going.”
“We have to do a lot of the things that we do in the Premier League. The tendency always is to look at the Champions League like something else, so how big is the Premier League and how big is the Champions League? We’ve faced incredible difficult opposition every week and that’s the good thing.”
“We’re coming up now against a very good team in Monaco, they’re doing incredibly well and they are so used to it because we play every three days against this kind of opposition. The Champions League is different in certain ways, but there are similarities in the way that we have to compete day in, day out in the league.”
Monaco come into the game level on points with the Gunners in the Champions League standings and sitting third in Ligue 1. With three wins from their last five matches in the competition, they’ve matched their total from the previous 19, and Mikel believes they’ll pose a tough challenge – as is typical in Europe’s premier club competition.
“I’m really impressed,” he added. “They’re a really good side, you see the run they’ve been on in the Champions League and in the league, especially against top opposition, so a real threat. A team that is superbly well organised, really intense, really good in transition moments as well with a lot of quality, so it’s going to be a very good test for us tomorrow.”
“We have a really good link as well with Arsene [Wenger], Thierry [Hnery] as well. There’s a big history there. It’s a very special club, a special place, so we welcome them here and will hopefully be better than them to try to win the game.”
