Mikel Arteta has made a bullish statement about the Arsenal players ahead of their showdown with Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.
While the North London derby may have been chalked off as an easy win for the Gunners a couple of weeks ago, things have changed over the past few days.
There has been a managerial change at Tottenham Hotspur, with Igor Tudor now attempting to inject energy into a squad that appeared to be lacking confidence under Thomas Frank.
Additionally, Arsenal threw away a two-goal lead mid-week against Wolves, demonstrating that they are far from invincible.
Mikel Areta says Arsenal players have reacted tremendously ahead of Tottenham showdown
Having been held to a draw by Wolves, the pressure is now mounting on Arsenal, who know that they cannot slip up on Sunday, with Man City breathing down their necks.
However, Arteta has now revealed that rather than feeling deflated at their draw at Molineux Stadium, his players have reacted really well and are determined to put things right in the North London derby.
Ahead of the clash against Tottenham, the Spaniard said (via Sky Sports): “What I have seen is a tremendous reaction again, and I am not surprised at all. But this is football, and that is the beauty of football. That was a chapter. We have a long season, and chapter 27 says we drew against Wolves in this manner.
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“What I am interested in is the next one. What is this team made of? What do we do about this, and how we write our own destiny from here and going forward?
“That’s it. You have to react to it because life moves on and as unfortunate as it was, there is nothing we can do. However, what we can do a lot about is what happens next.”
Arteta insists Gunners cannot wait to play Spurs
The feeling ahead of the North London derby is always different to other games, irrespective of where the two sides are in the table.
Arteta admits that his side want to use that excitement to showcase their best and that they cannot wait to run out onto the field at N17.
He added: “It’s the one that is next, and it is one we cannot wait to play. We’d all love to play the game today to get that feeling we have in our tummies and use it in the right way. We have to show it on Sunday.”