LONDON (AP) — Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta faces a challenge that dwarfs achieving the club’s rise to the top of the Premier League table in the run-up to the World Cup: how to keep the unlikely streak?
The Gunners hope to pick up their league season where they left off six weeks ago when they welcome West Ham in the final game on Boxing Day which concludes a seven-game schedule on Monday.
Arsenal were the best team in the Premier League for the first half of the season and have a five-point lead over Manchester City, but their task will be much more difficult without talisman Gabriel Jesus, who is recovering from injury at the knee he suffered. in Qatar while playing for Brazil.
In contrast, 16th-placed West Ham barely managed to stay out of the relegation zone after a slow start that included four wins in the team’s first 15 games, but Arteta is not taking the Hammers lightly. .
“We need to do that (build momentum) on the field. We have talked a lot about it. We know the importance of starting strong and we play at home”, said Arteta. “It’s a very special day in Premier League history, it’s a very special family day to play football, there’s an amazing atmosphere on that day and we want to make the most of it.”
He also praised his young team’s consistency through the first 14 games of the season, a stretch that includes wins over rivals Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea. However, tougher tests lie ahead.
“Probably the level that we show and the consistency that we show within that level, which with the group and the age that we have is not easy,” said Arteta. “We show real maturity at certain times, especially against big opponents.
“The focus is to play better every day, continue to grow individually and collectively and continue to deserve to win games. That’s all we can hope for because football is a very complicated game.”
While Arsenal don’t resume their Europa League campaign until March, the FA Cup will kick off in January and Arteta knows rotation will be key, especially after several of his team took part in the World Cup in Qatar.
The Gunners are set to play six games in the next 28 days and have an equally busy schedule in February.
“There will be periods where you have time to train and other periods where the matches will come fast and you will have very congested periods,” Arteta said. “It will be very important how healthy the team is, how fit they are and how much rotation can help us maintain the level we want.”
In the first match of the day, Tottenham traveled via London to take on Brentford at lunchtime with Spurs manager Antonio Conte insisting the league restart comes too soon after the Cup final. of the world.
The Premier League resumes just eight days after Spurs duo Hugo Lloris and Cristian Romero met in Qatar for the World Cup.
While Conte has already confirmed that the World Cup finalists will not play on Monday, the Italian has the decision to replace Croatian Ivan Perisic, as well as English pair Harry Kane and Eric Dier after the trio reached the quarter finals.
“It’s a strange situation and honestly, playing so fast, only a week after the World Cup, I’m not really happy,” he said. “On the one hand, you are happy because for my club, Tottenham, having 12 players in the World Cup means that we are on the right track to try to be competitive and try to win something in the future.
“But it is normal that when you have so many players you play a tournament like this, especially during the season, that now it is not easy because the physical condition is not the best.”
In the other matches of the day, Crystal Palace host Fulham in another London derby, Everton host Wolves, Newcastle visit Leicester, Brighton travel to South Coast rival Southampton and Liverpool head to Aston Town.
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