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Arsenal host Michael Carrick's Manchester United on Sunday
Mikel Arteta believes playing for a club you then manage brings “something extra”.
Arteta made over 100 appearances for Arsenal before succeeding Unai Emery as boss in 2019. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing but his team are now top of the Premier League, top of the Champions League and still in the EFL Cup and FA Cup.
Their next challenge comes on Sunday when they host a Manchester United team now led by former Old Trafford midfielder Michael Carrick.
Arteta admits he feels a special sense of attachment with the Gunners, and hinted the feeling would be the same for Carrick and United.
He said: “First of all, it’s the feeling that I have towards the club because I played here, and that’s unique, that brings something extra. The fact that you know a lot of people, in my opinion, is something very beneficial, and understanding the history of the club from the inside, and then you have to acclimatise and adapt to the circumstances and then start your job.”
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Carrick’s first game in interim charge ended in a resounding 2-0 win over Manchester City last Saturday and Arteta knows they are a different proposition than previously under Ruben Amorim.
“Michael coming in will bring new ideas,” he said. “Always, the intensity rises up. You could see that in the Manchester derby, the kind of behaviours and the game that they played, so we will expect a really tough match and we’ll adapt to that for sure. But we are at home and we know how important that game is for us.
“At the end, the individuals are the ones that make the difference or the ones that make the game in a certain way and we’re going to try to be ourselves, be very dominant like we always want to be, impose the game that we want to play and regardless of what they want to do, we want to take the game in the areas that are very good for us.”
Arsenal have operated with just one recognised centre forward – Viktor Gyokeres – for much of the season but Arteta now has options with Gabriel Jesus back and scoring goals and Kai Havertz available again after a lengthy injury lay-off.
“We were waiting for that and with the amount of games that are coming up, they’re all going to have opportunities and minutes, obviously, so it’s great to have them back and especially to have them in good form,” said Arteta.
“I think it’s something really positive, especially for the squad, and you could see the other day, Gabi [Jesus] scoring two goals, Viktor coming on and making an impact to win the game [against Inter Milan in midweek].”
On Havertz, he added: “Obviously, he has been out for a long time, almost a year, for different reasons, and now we have to be very smart in the manner that we manage that load, the minutes, and I am sure that in the next few weeks, he is going to play in minutes.
“I cannot tell you which competition because that will depend as well on the game context, and it is a context that is positive to throw him in or not, with his qualities. It is great that we have him. We can use him in different positions, we will see him in different positions, and we are really happy to have him.”
Arsenal’s recent form has seen them handed plenty of plaudits with Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola describing them as the “best team in the world”, earlier today.
Arteta said: “It’s always much better to hear positive things about your team and the work that you are doing but obviously that’s a big word especially because in my opinion to be related to that you have to win a lot of things and we haven’t but we certainly have the purpose to be the best version that we can be every single day and we’re not going to stop until we achieve that.”
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