Mikel has his Art set on European football
MIKEL ARTETA admits he feels a “responsibility” to get Arsenal into Europe next season.
The Gunners boss is facing the biggest week of his reign as they travel to Sheffield United tomorrow evening and then Slavia Prague for their Europa League second leg on Thursday.
Arsenal are stranded in mid-table and have an uphill battle to get past Slavia after conceding an away goal which raises the prospect of having no European football next season for the first time since the 1995-96 campaign.
That would leave Arteta’s hopes of a major rebuild this summer in serious danger without the much-needed millions from a European quest.
Liverpool and Chelsea both had seasons out of Europe and reaped the benefits from better results domestically but Arteta (inset) knows the pressure is building from Arsenal fans, although he views it differently.
He said: “It is not pressure – it is our responsibility.
“The club we represent has high demands and that is the minimum we can ask for and we have to, over time, work to deliver those goals.
“We go back to what we used to say when those teams were in a position not
TOMORROW, 7pm, BT SPORT 1 to qualify for Europe. We are talking about similar things.
“It is true there are some really good examples of teams that were rebuilding and it helped them in their project but I would rather be in Europe.”
Arsenal remain committed to Arteta and, even if they go out to Slavia Prague and finish mid-table, the feeling is they will stick with him next season.
The bigger concern is whether the likes of Pierre-emerick Aubameyang will respond to the manager’s methods, or if the likes of Thomas Partey will prove their worth after Arteta splashed the cash to sign him from Atletico Madrid last summer. The Spaniard added: “It is very difficult to make a real assessment because he has missed six months. That is a long time. “He is still adapting to our way of playing, which is different to what he did at Atletico Madrid.
“We can all see what he can bring to the team. Now it is about finding that consistency that we need from him.”