Arteta: “The reality is that we need more goals”

There are tough times at Arsenal right now, as the euphoria of our 10-game unbeaten run that saw us reach the giddy heights of 5th place in the table.

But since then we have lost 3 of our last 4 games, conceding 9 goals. and are dropping away from the top of the table again. So we are desperately in need of a win today, and on all known form we should get the three points, but with our confidence having been shattered we cannot guarantee a win any more.

The fact is that we should have beaten Everton in our last game, and Arteta was asked how we can get his team to get forward and kill off our opponents. “Practice it more and encourage the players to take more risks, put the ball more often in the box when we have the opportunity to have more bodies there and start to score the big chances that we have, like the game against Everton,” he said.

“It’s always a combination, who creates the chances for [the forwards], it’s themselves, it’s the team, it’s the collective capacity for the team to arrive better in conditions in the final third, it’s the numbers in the box, we can look at everything, but the reality is that we need more goals.

“I don’t think we did [sit back and try to protect the lead], sometimes teams can change their way of playing after conceding a goal, we don’t and we go for the second one and the third one and we’re not gonna change that.”

With all due respect Mikel, everyone kows (including our coach and the players) that we DO NOT go for the kill, and it just looks like we desperately try to hold on to our lead.

That certainly must change today or we can just about give up on our season already..

WATCH Arteta’s pre-match conference…