With eight games sandwiched into a busy April period for Arsenal, Mikel Arteta has urged his players to try and make the most of their chances, regardless of how many minutes they get
As Arsenal continue to push for the Premier League title and also get ready for the Champions League quarter-finals, the next four weeks will have a huge significance on whether the Gunners will claim silverware come the end of the season. Also, the amount of games in the coming weeks means Arteta will have to rotate players to keep his side as competitive as possible.
Remembering the example of Reiss Nelson’s last-gasp against Bournemouth last season, Arteta has urged Arsenal’s fringe stars to seize their moment when it comes over this hectic run of games.
Arteta challenges Arsenal’s fringe players
Speaking in a press conference ahead of Arsenal’s game against Luton Town on Wednesday, Arteta said: “It’s our obligation and duty to be prepared to play any minute, in any moment.”
“You see a lot of moments. When you look at Reiss’ moments for Arsenal, there are moments when he’s played a few minutes and made a huge impact, and it’s one of the best days of his life as an Arsenal player. Nobody remembers if he started or came off the bench.”
“A lot of examples are like this in both football and the history of the sport when a lot of players make their impact. Sometimes you just need a second to change the history of a football club.”
“They really need to feel it, and the best way to feel it is to play minutes. When they don’t have the capacity to show what can do, they have to show it in training. We have to be close to them and we have to convince them to keep doing it and earn the right to play.”
Arsenal had to dig in deep to beat Luton Town 4-3 at Kenilworth road in the reverse fixture back in December. Arteta reflected on that game and called for another spirited performance from his side.
Reflecting on his memories of that night, Mikel said: “It was really emotional and the way we celebrated tells you the difficulty of the match and how much we had to fight for the points, so we know what we’re facing tomorrow.”
“Big compliments to Rob and the coaching staff; what they have done as a club is an amazing journey. I think they deserve more credit than any other team in this league. How they have done it and what they transmit as a team and what they generate, it is going to be a really tough match.”
“When you see the games that they have played – even when they haven’t won, they’ve been really tough. We have had some extraordinary results against the other two teams that are, at the moment, leading the table. We are not top so that means that we have missed certain points somewhere else and that’s what we have to put the emphasis on now tomorrow.”
