ART: SUCK UP DEFEAT AND GO FOR TITLE!
MIKEL ARTETA has told his Arsenal players to use the disappointment of Thursday’s Europa League exit to fuel their push for the Premier League title.
The Gunners boss does not want his men to experience again in May the same sort of emotions that they felt following their shoot-out defeat at the hands of Sporting Lisbon. Arteta said: “I tried to give a lot of clarity in the dressing room and it was all about the one message, ‘Accept it, swallow it, we have to learn from it’.
“There is no point now spending one bit of energy or thought that is going to take something out of our next game. We have to be at our best again in the Premier League against Crystal Palace to beat them. I want everybody just recovering mentally and physically to be in the best possible condition for the game.
“I saw a lot of positive things on Thursday – especially when we were giving a lot of balls away and suffering – that the players stayed together. The way they reacted, the way they were when we conceded a goal and how the game changed after that… all showed me a lot of positive signs.
“The downside to it is that we could not manage in the end to win it late on, because I think that we deserved to win and be through. But it wasn’t enough, it was maybe too late by then.”
Arteta added: “We have to be better now than we were on Thursday in many departments, but with the same desire – and go and do what we have to do to win this next game.
“It’s about lifting the players up and making sure they are there in the best possible condition.”