Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MAN CITY v ARSENAL CAN YOU HEAR THE CITY SING?
Gunners boss Arteta: Football is all about passion and energy... an empty Etihad could give us the edge
MIKEL ARTETA believes an empty Etihad could play into Arsenal hands when they take on Manchester City.
Project Restart begins on Wednesday, when Arteta’s Arsenal side travel to City to play their game in hand straight after Aston Villa’s clash with Sheffield United.
Normally the Etihad is a formidable place to visit, especially for a fragile Gunners side who have won only twice on the road this season. But on Wednesday night it will be devoid of fans as football begins again behind closed doors.
And events in the Bundesliga show the effect that could have.
In Germany more than 40 per cent of matches before the shutdown were won by the home side but, since the resumption, it’s down to around 20 per cent.
Ex-city coach Arteta said: “It is going to help. Football is passion and energy and, when you lose that, things balance out much more. But I know how strong City are, I know what they are able to do if they are switched on. We have to be really well prepared.”
Arteta, one of the first in English football to test positive for coronavirus when it struck in March, left his position as City boss Pep Guardiola’s assistant to take over at the Gunners before Christmas.
Arsenal’s preparations for the restart hit a hitch on Wednesday when they were beaten 3-2 by Championship side Brentford in a warm-up game.
Arteta (with Guardiola, below) said: “We are trying different things. We are trying to give minutes to all the players.
“We have had to change a lot of players through the games. We are adapting to playing in an empty stadium and losing that energy from the fans.
“We haven’t played for a while. We tried to make it as close as possible to a real game.
“You can play friendly games, you can play 45 minutes, but it’s not Premier
League rhythm at all. It will be difficult to sustain rhythm for 90 minutes for the first few games.”