Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he has a happy headache on his hands when it comes to picking his team, despite the injuries to key starters like Mikel Odegaard, Kai Havertz, and Gabriel Martinelli. The Gunners, who play newly-promoted Burnley on Saturday, sit atop the English Premier League table with 22 points from nine games, looking well placed to clinch their first league title since 2004.
After finishing as runners-up for the last three seasons, Arsenal spent $293.5 million to bolster their squad — with the likes of Viktor Gyokeres, Martin Zubimendi, Cristhian Mosquera, and Noni Madueke among other — in order to mount a sustained title charge after their previous three efforts faded in the second-half of the season due to injuries.
Mikel Arteta
“Thank god we have it. Even if we have five or six players out, we find solutions and remain competitive,” said Arteta in the pre-match press conference on Friday, alluding to his squad’s depth, with even 15-year-old academy graduate, Max Dowman, impressing his manager to the point where Arteta admitted he could soon be starting league games despite his tender age.
“This is the standards we want to create [within the team] and those standards have to be set in training. This is the balance between the competition and the cooperation,” said the Spaniard, while crediting the quality of players in his team for pushing each other to new heights. The Gunners are currently on a six-game unbeaten streak across all competitions, and have conceded just three goals in 13 games — only one stemming from open play.
Nevertheless, Arteta was eager to get some of his key players — Martin Odegaard, Noni Madueke, and Kai Havertz — back in time for the North London derby against bitter rivals, Tottenham Hotspur, on November 23. “Yeah, I’m excited because they are tremendous players. I see them work every single day, how desperate they are to be back in the team. Their return going to be a huge boost for us,” explained Arteta.
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