Arteta rallies Arsenal after Aston Villa blow
Mikel Arteta has told his Arsenal players to “stand up and be counted” after their Premier League title bid took a hit with defeat to Aston Villa.
Two late goals gave Unai Emery and his players a deserved 2-0 victory at Emirates Stadium to boost their own top-four hopes.
Liverpool lost at home to Crystal Palace earlier in the day and a fifth league defeat of the campaign for Arsenal leaves Arteta’s side in second, two points behind reigning champion Manchester City.
Asked if he was concerned Arsenal’s season could fizzle out from this point, much as it did last season, Arteta’s reply was bullish.
“If one result is going to do that then we are not strong enough,” the Spaniard, whose side had been unbeaten in the league in 2024, said.
“That’s very simple. We had one of the best performances that we’ve had all season in the first half against a really good team. It should have been three or four [goals] or more. It didn’t happen. In the second half the momentum shifted.
“We could not control and generate what we did in the first half. We conceded two very poor goals and we lost the game.
“Congratulate the opponent and stand up. Now the moment is to stand up and be counted. When you win and win and win for four months it’s very simple to do it. The moment to do it is now.
“If you want to win championships, if you want to be there in the [UEFA] Champions League, when you have these moments you have to stand up.
“If not that means that you don’t have a quality that is very necessary. Now it’s a big test for us.
“In any other league in the world if you won the number of games in a row that we did, you would be six or eight points clear. That is not the case here. That is the challenge.”
This was former Arsenal boss Emery’s first trip to Emirates Stadium with his Villa side, which moved three points clear of Tottenham Hotspur to strengthen its hold on fourth place in the quest for UEFA Champions League football.
“Of course, beating Arsenal here is very difficult and we needed to play and be focused 100 per cent and be very demanding in everything,” he said.
“We needed the biggest commitment to do better than we did against Manchester City (a 4-1 loss) that was the sample we used for this match.
“This is the level I want to get to with our players and progressively, we are getting better.”
