Arteta wants no excuses and vows to have ‘Plan B’
ARSENAL will not use the ongoing disruption caused by Covid as an excuse for any dip in form, according to manager Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners have been one of the clubs who have fared best amid the latest outbreak sweeping through the Premier League, decimating the fixture scheduler along the way.
Their 4-1 win at Leeds was the only top-flight game to survive on Saturday as the victory ensured Arsenal would be in the top four at Christmas.
They host Sky Bet League One outfit Sunderland in the last eight of the Carabao Cup tonight, with Arteta stressing the need to roll with the punches and have plans in place to deal as well as possible with any Covid issues.
Asked whether he has had to take a different approach in recent weeks, Arteta replied: “Have a really positive approach and your mindset ready that unpredictable things are going to happen – and stop complaining about everything that happens – then you will find excuses. We can find excuses for everything. We know what is going to happen, we know bad news will come probably, so we have to expect it and try to prevent it if we can with all the protocols we have. But we have to be prepared as well with Plan B, C and D.”
Meanwhile, Sunderland manager Lee Johnson has
admitted he would use his “dad banter” against him if he were Arteta.
Johnson takes his side to North London tonight having unwittingly incurred the wrath of a section of the Gunners fanbase with a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that he would be happy to face them in the last eight.
Asked if the Spaniard could use his words against him, the Black Cats head coach said: “Listen, that’s my mistake if he did. I would use it – why wouldn’t you? Whether or not he sees that as a big enough motivation…
“All I can say is, I have the utmost respect for players, staff and the football club.”
Johnson found himself in hot water with Arsenal fans when, after being asked for his preference ahead of the draw, he said: “I’d love to have Arsenal away, or Tottenham away if not that. And then we’ll wait for the really big guns when it’s two legs.”
Asked if he regretted his remarks, he said: “I regret if it offended anybody because, genuinely, anybody that knows me and probably watched the clip will know that it was tongue-in-cheek dad banter.
“My Twitter feed didn’t read it like that, let me tell you, for two or three days after.
“I can assure you I’ve got 100 per cent full respect because the first part of the question was a genuine answer in terms of they are the two clubs that I actually wanted to play because I haven’t played there and I haven’t managed there.”
Whatever Arteta has in store for him, Johnson is promising a “blood and guts” performance from his team at the Emirates Stadium as they attempt to progress in a competition in which they reached the final as recently as 2014.
Asked what impact he has had since arriving on Wearside in December last year, he said: “I think it’s been an honest impact. I can look myself in the mirror and say I have tried to do all things right. I obviously haven’t made every correct decision along the way, but I think we’ve made more right decisions than wrong.”
We know what is going to happen, we know bad news will come probably