14 January 2023 , 22:30
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Mikel Arteta reckons he and his top-of-the-table stars are creating memories that will last a lifetime.
Arsenal have taken the Premier League by storm this season and go into Sunday's clash with arch-rivals Tottenham with a five-point lead over second-placed Manchester City.
They’ve dropped points in only three of their 17 top-flight fixtures — losing just one of them — and in doing so have created a feel-good factor around the club that is the best it has been for almost 20 years. A victory at Spurs would only add to the warm, fuzzy feeling that is enveloping the Gunners.
And it would give even more belief to those who think they can stay the course and claim their first Premier League crown since 2003-04. Arteta said: “It’s an incredible dressing room that is just a joy to work with every single day.
“Some of the things we’ve done together, probably I’m never going to be able to do them with any other team and any other group. Especially on matchdays. There are things we do together that will be resting in my brain for the rest of my life and probably it’s the same for them as well.
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“At the end, the job is about the people around you. There is some suffering, there are some beautiful moments, but there is a lot of learning as well. I feel so grateful and very lucky to be in the position I am. There are tough moments and you have to take the bullets, and you have to know they come with your job.”
Mikel Arteta is in awe of his Arsenal squad (Getty Images)Arteta took plenty of bullets in his first two-and-a-half years at Arsenal but, this season at least, his critics’ sights have been lowered. Asked what the biggest single change has been in the last year, he added: “We win more games, which is the most important thing.
“That is the thing that changes everything and we play better. We deserve to win the games we’ve won and, probably, that’s the most relevant thing.
“The players are certainly more mature and the demands have changed as well. My role and the things they need from me are different now.
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Arsenal are five points clear at the top of the Premier League (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)“That’s why we always have to be evolving and to try to be ahead of what is coming, so we can give to the players and the rest of the staff what is going to make everything click to be more efficient and to win more games.”
You have to go back to March 2014 for the Gunners’ last league win at Spurs, and Arteta said: “There is for sure something. The atmosphere has an input and affects the game in a way.
“I have been through a few of them, trying to understand why that happens, in the last few days. It is difficult to get some conclusions but the atmosphere, it’s important.”