“That tells you the resilience” - Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta fires back at critics after Gunners Premier League title blow 

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has fired back at his side's critics after they suffered a blow in their attempt to catch Liverpool in the title race. The North London side lost 1-0 to West Ham, burying their chances of lifting the league.

In a recent interview, the Spanish tactician fired back at his side's critics and insisted that his team performed well to even be in contention for the title. Arteta said via the Mirror:

“It’s been incredibly satisfying to work with the players and the coaches and staff to overcome certain situations. If someone told you at the start of the season that by this time, you have played five times with a red card, each time for over half an hour in these games. And you have lost this amount of players, what’s the bet that you are in the middle of the table at least? And out of the Champions League. That’s not the situation, so that tells you the resilience, the ambition the team has, every individual has."

The Spanish manager concluded, saying:

“In that sense, it has been one of the proudest moments for me to work. The thing is when you are there [at the top] you want more and you want more and you want more. But I’m not going to stop, not over my dead body will I stop thinking that way and trying to increase that probability of us winning and hitting our standards regardless of what has happened.”

Arsenal currently sit in second place on the Premier League table with 53 points in 26 games, 11 points behind table-toppers Liverpool.

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“No, his numbers are very similar in terms of what we expect and expected goals and areas that he’s hitting" - Mikel Arteta unconcerned with Martin Odegaard's performances

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has defended club captain Martin Odegaard over performances this season. The Norwegian star has scored just three goals and provided six assists in 27 games this campaign compared to 11 goals and 11 assists from 48 games last season.

In a recent interview, the Spanish tactician revealed that he was unconcerned with the Norwegian's reduced output at the club. Arteta also claimed that Odergaard was performing as expected, saying via the ArseBlog:

“No, his numbers are very similar in terms of what we expect and expected goals and areas that he’s hitting. Maybe the efficiency has dropped a little bit, there were some penalties there as well that he has scored in the past, that’s another factor."

“But we want to increase the levels of the scoring records of every individual and Martin is one of them," he added.

Odegaard has been at Arsenal since the summer of 2021 when he joined from Real Madrid for a reported €35 million fee after initially spending the previous season on loan.