Mikel Arteta details dressing room message to Arsenal players after Europa League elimination
Mikel Arteta has instructed his Arsenal team to channel their disappointment from being eliminated from the Europa League on Thursday towards their pursuit of the Premier League title.
The Arsenal manager wants to avoid his players experiencing the same negative emotions in May that they felt after their loss on penalties to Sporting Lisbon, which was a setback that could deflate the team’s morale.
Despite having played more games and with a match against Manchester City still to come in April, Arsenal can establish an eight-point advantage over their title rivals if they overcome Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Palace has also had a difficult few days.
Arteta said: “I tried to give a lot of clarity in the dressing-room and it was all about the message: accept it, swallow it, we have to learn from it. But there is no point now spending one bit of energy or thought that is going to take something out of our game on Sunday.
“We have to be at our best again in the Premier League against Crystal Palace to beat them and I want everybody just recovering mentally and physically to be in the best possible condition for the game.
“I saw a lot of things on Thursday, especially when we were giving a lot of balls away and suffering, that they did it together. The way they reacted, the way they were when we conceded a goal and how the game changed after that… It shows me a lot of positive signs.
“The downside to it is that we could not materialise in the end to win it because at the end I think we deserved to win it and be through, but it wasn’t enough, it was maybe too late.”
Sunday’s match between Arsenal and Crystal Palace has an added layer of intrigue as the Eagles have just dismissed their manager, former Arsenal player Patrick Vieira, following a poor run of results that saw the team go winless in 12 games in 2023.
While many people may be disappointed for Vieira, the decision to sack him was not unexpected.
Prior to his dismissal, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, who has a good relationship with Vieira, was already worried about the possibility of a Palace backlash given their poor form.
With Vieira’s departure, Arteta’s concerns about a potential response from Palace may have increased even further.
He added: “They showed against Brighton on Wednesday that it can make them more dangerous.
“So we have to be again better than we were on Thursday in many departments with the same desire and do what we have to do to win the game.”
Arguably the biggest battle for today for both sides will be mental given the events of the last few days but Arteta has been working on that since the final whistle against Sporting. He said: “We worked on that already in the dressing-room on Thursday and on Friday it was about delivering the message about the Palace game and lifting them up and making sure they are there in the best possible condition.”
Mikel Arteta details dressing room message to Arsenal players after Europa League elimination
