Tuchel’s intensity is rubbing off on his players, but he must loosen the shackles
Boss Arteta isn’t interested in ruling London... he wants to make Arsenal best in England Sanchez says it’s tough to take when the flak’s flying but puts Spurs’ revival down to Mourinho’s honesty with every player
MIKEL ARTETA insists the battle for supremacy in London is of no interest to him — because his only ambition is to make Arsenal the top team in the land.
Which is perhaps just as well given that three other clubs in The Smoke sit above his team in the Premier League.
And that going into today’s north London derby against Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham, the Gunners aren’t even top dogs in their particular pocket of the capital.
“No,” he said, when challenged over if being the fourth-best team in London was acceptable. “We want to be the best – and not in London. We want to be the best in the Premier League.
“That is the standard we have to try to reach because of the expectation we have and what this club has done over the years.
“I’m not interested about London. I’m interested about the whole country and being the best in the country.”
Arteta’s words will no doubt raise an eyebrow – and perhaps a chuckle – along the Seven Sisters Road and from supporters of other clubs as well.
They will point to the amount of work that needs to be done and money spent for Arsenal to not just close the gap on Spurs, West Ham and Chelsea, but then Manchester City too.
The Spaniard said: “You know the successful teams in this country in the last five to 10 years, what they’ve done to become successful. It’s no secret.
“There is not someone who has done something unprecedented, apart from what happened one particular year with Leicester.
“But we have to find a way to do it. If it’s not that way, we have to find another way. This isn’t the time to find excuses.
“The way we are going to evolve this squad is not being done in this window.
“It’s going to be a constant thing and it has to be a constant thing.
“It’s not going to stop, so that we’re in the position afterwards you have to do a massive rebuild, like we had to do in the last two transfer windows.
“Hopefully, when you are able to do
the opposite thing and adjust little things you are going to bring the biggest ability and then just add good quality.
“Any player that comes here has big quality, because that is what the squad demands.”
There are clearly frustrations on Arteta’s behalf about his 15 months in charge and the disruption Covid has had on the work he planned to do.
And he accepts he can’t put a timeframe on when he expects to have Arsenal challenging for titles again.
He said: “In the time I’ve been in the job, we had two and a half months in normal circumstances.
“Then a period completely away from the team in very difficult circumstances.
“It’s not the same as having a year, the same period, in normal circumstances.
“When you talk about the transfer windows, it’s very difficult to explain as well about how they were dealt with.
“The progression of the team and when we are able to do that? I don’t know. If I did know, I would give you a date.
“What I know is that tomorrow it has to be a better team than today. My whole focus is towards that. And then, how we can be as competitive as we have to be in the shortest possible time, making the right decisions.”
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DAVINSON SANCHEZ puts his Tottenham resurgence down to hard work and humility – especially when the flak is flying from Jose Mourinho.
The Spurs boss (below) has been critical of players making individual errors in the past few months and the 24-year-old defender knows he has been at fault a couple of times.
Asked if the public criticism is hard to take, Sanchez said: “I can talk about myself. I’ve been a professional for five or six years and my position has a lot of responsibility.
“I’m just dealing with that from the start.
“You have to be humble when somebody is maybe not blaming you, but having to say something isn’t right or correct.
“You need to accept it, be humble and take it. Of course, it’s not trying to put that in the bin – and forget it.
“You keep going because if someone is saying something like that to you, it’s because they know you can do a lot better.
“The manager is very direct and wants the best for the team.
“He is very honest with everybody, from who is doing well and involved to who is not in the best form or needs to work.
“We are here to perform and to get results and, of course, as a professional, you can have good periods or not as good as you expect and bad periods can come, too.”
The Colombian became Spurs’ record signing when he arrived from Ajax for £42million in 2017.
But he found himself down the pecking order at the start of the season, with Mourinho preferring to pair Eric Dier and Toby Alderweireld in central defence.
However, impressing in the Europa League before Christmas earned Sanchez a good run of outings in the top flight.
And his contribution, particularly in the past three games – victories over Fulham, Crystal Palace and Dinamo Zagreb – means the starting berth he worked so hard to regain is now his to lose.
Gareth Bale, Dele Alli and Tanguy Ndombele have found themselves in a similar boat, but all have knuckled down and, to varying degrees, been rewarded by Mourinho.
“It is not just here at Tottenham, it is like that since I started playing football,” said Sanchez. “If you are not in the condition to be in the starting XI, you can’t expect to be involved.
“In sport, you need that and at the moment you have to be perfect in every position, with possession or without possession, with all your movements.
“We all have to be, in that respect. You hear your team-mates say, ‘I’m going to push you’.
“You have to deal with that and be humble, meet the challenge.
“If it happens to you, you accept that the only way to change that is starting from you yourself.”
For Sanchez, today’s clash at Arsenal will be his sixth north London derby, with Spurs winning two and drawing two.
He knows there won’t be the usual febrile atmosphere, but, with both sides still aiming for a place in Europe next season, there is still plenty at stake.
Sanchez added: “The pandemic has changed a lot of things. It has been tough for everybody and it will be different.
“This is my fourth season, so
I’ve been involved in a few of these games and it is massive.
“It’s a game that right now is not just for three points, it’s a game for pride and to keep fighting for the top four.
“It’s a big, big competition. There are no fans, but there’s still a lot of pressure, going to
Arsenal and getting a good result in their stadium.”