Arsenal's Mikel Arteta: I admire bite-ban Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.. anyone can lose it
Arsenal's Mikel Arteta: I admire bite-ban Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.. anyone can lose it
Ahead of this weekend's first vs third clash at the
Emirates, the Gunners midfielder speaks exclusively on the title race
and more
Behave! Arteta likes how Suarez has been keeping his nose clean this season
Andrew Powell
They will cross swords this weekend in a top-of-the-table battle, but Mikel Arteta has nothing but respect for Luis Suarez.
Arsenal midfielder Arteta admits to being impressed by the way the Liverpool striker has reinvented himself.
Biting an opponent and the racial abuse of Patrice Evra made Suarez football’s Public Enemy No.1 last season.
In the summer, the Uruguayan could have signed for Arsenal, claiming he had had enough at Anfield.
Now
it is opposition defences that Suarez is leaving in tatters after
staying at the Reds to shoot them into title contention with six goals
in his first four league matches following his 10-game suspension.
“He
is a tremendous player,” said Arteta, “And he has shown a lot of
character to get back after getting really criticised and on the front
pages a lot. He has gone on to produce some great performances and his
goal-scoring record is amazing.
“It was very difficult for him because he had a lot of people against him and he was under massive pressure.
“Last summer when everyone thought he was leaving, he still came back and put in some great performances.
“I
like players like this. When they are on the floor and everyone is on
them they stand up and prove themselves and I admire that.”
Since
returning from his suspension for biting Branislav Ivanovic, Suarez has
hit the net in three of his four games – including a hat-trick against
West Brom – and set up Daniel Sturridge to score in the other, against
Newcastle. Mouth of the Mersey: Suarez bites Branislav Ivanovic
Sky
Before his ban last term, Suarez had a total of 30 goals for
Liverpool, making him the first player to reach that figure for the club
since Fernando Torres in the 2007-2008 campaign.
Arteta admits even he has experienced the kind of red mist that sparked Suarez’s moment of madness.
He
added: “I’ve seen a lot of things in my career. Not only in the matches
but on the training ground against your own team-mates. Everyone can
lose it.
“I lost it once against Morten Gamst Pedersen. I poked
his eye. Afterwards, I was like, ‘What are you doing? This is stupid!’
but you get upset, you get frustrated and you do some stuff. It’s not
right.
“He accepted it, he apologised and I think he did
everything he had to do to try to learn from it in order to not do it
again. Sometimes you do silly things in life.
“Even with my kids, I’ve made mistakes. What you want to do is learn and not make them again.” Eye say! Arteta isn't proud of this incident in a Blackburn vs Everton match
Action
Despite their best efforts, Arsenal failed to buy Suarez to boost their title prospects.
Asked
whether the Gunners would have been even further clear at the top had
they signed him, Arteta replied: “I don’t know about that. You don’t
know how you would react or how someone would adapt.
“He’s not our
player. We have some very good players that are doing really well so we
can’t analyse something that hasn’t happened.”
Arteta does
believe, however, that Liverpool deserve credit for the explosive way
they have started the new campaign given their troubled summer.
“I think Liverpool have done really, really well when you consider everything that has happened,” he added.
“I
think they have been playing some really good football and that their
strikers are very much in form at the moment, just like Olivier Giroud
is for us.”
Arteta on... being written off by Alan Hansen
Mikel Arteta has laughed off a claim from Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen that he and Arsenal will finish fourth at best in May.
The
Gunners top the table with seven wins from nine matches, and are two
points ahead of Saturday visitors Liverpool in what is shaping up as the
most open Premier League title race ever.
But Hansen, a former
Liverpool star, predicts the north Londoners won't last the distance as
they lack a leader and will struggle to recover once they hit a bad
patch.
Arteta said: “I respect everyone’s opinion, but no one has the answers to what is going to happen in 29 fixtures’ time.
“The
only thing we can do is work as hard as we can and try to find a way to
be where we are in May. That’s our ambition. We’re enjoying the moment,
enjoying the way we’re playing and we want to keep going because we
feel privileged to be where we are. Going great Guns: Arsenal are enjoying their flying start says Arteta
Paul Gilham
“The only time you doubt yourself is if you see it in your
team-mates, your manager or the crowd. That’s what makes you think, ‘Oh,
can we do it?’
“But there is belief in our dressing room and if
you’re certain you can do it there is a big chance you will. If you
don’t believe then it is very hard. Things don’t happen unless you
really try.”
Arsenal have lost back-to-back home matches to
Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League and Chelsea in the Capital One
Cup, but are unbeaten in the league since an opening-day defeat to
Aston Villa.
While many pundits predicted a difficult season for Arsene Wenger’s men, they are defying the doubters so far.
Arteta
added: “I wouldn’t say the lack of expectation on us took the pressure
off. We had so much pressure. After the Villa game we were under massive
pressure.
“The crowd were getting into us. They weren’t happy
with the results, they weren’t happy with the lack of signings and so
the whole club was in a difficult position. To turn that around is a
credit to the lads, the board and the manager because he didn’t hurry to
make any decision just to take the pressure off his shoulders.”
While
£42.5million Mesut Ozil has been showered with plaudits for his
displays, Arteta believes Wenger also deserves praise for keeping his
head in the transfer market while all about him others were losing
theirs.
Despite calls to break the bank, Wenger got Mathieu
Flamini and Yaya Sanogo on free transfers and keeper Emiliano Viviano on
loan before laying out big money on Ozil.
All were good business, according to Arteta.
He
added: “Just these four players and now everyone is happy. He only gets
the players he believes can make the difference and there weren’t
many.”
Arteta on... the title contenders
ARSENAL
I think we have the quality, the desire and now we have the experience
to be challenging for the title. But it’s still very early and I want to
see when the tough moments come how we react to them. CHELSEA
One hundred percent involved in the title race. You only need to look
at the manager they’ve got (Jose Mourinho) and what he has done. It has
never been any different in any other country, so why is it going to be
any different this year? MANCHESTER CITY
They’ve got more quality and talent than anyone else and they have a
manager who wants to play very attractive football. I think they have
got a great chance to win it. MANCHESTER UNITED I
will be surprised if, by February or March, they are not very close to
the top of the league. They have got probably more experience than
anyone else and have a large squad with many different options. They
have a new manager who should click with the players eventually and put
together win after win. EVERTON are probably not
as experienced as the other teams that I have mentioned, but they are
getting a new philosophy of play and they are confident. Whether they
can last for 38 games is the big question. LIVERPOOL
They have probably the best attacking players in the league at the
moment. If they can keep them, stay solid and carry on scoring freely,
they will win a lot games. So why not Liverpool for the title? SOUTHAMPTON
I know the manager (Mauricio Pochettino) well and he is the key. I
played with him and he is going to put a very, very competitive team
out. He is going to make it very hard for opposition teams. TOTTENHAM
are really consistent and they’re a good side. They’ve had a good
start. It’s going to be very hard season for everyone. You’re talking
about the most open and most difficult Premier League for a decade.
Let’s see what happens - it’s going to be fun.
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