With our attack and defence sitting head and shoulders above our rivals statistically, Mikel Arteta hopes that collective effort will ensure we ultimately finish top of what matters most - the Premier League table.
We head into this weekend’s game against Brighton & Hove Albion having scored the most goals in the division, hitting the back of the net 72 times, and the 24 we’ve conceded is the fewest, having also registered 13 clean sheets, including five in our last seven games.
While those numbers are better than Liverpool’s output this term, the Reds still lead the way but Mikel feels the stats show we’re on the right path with our defensive solidity energising the rest of the squad, providing the foundation for the attacking players to grab the goals necessary to win matches.
Analysing which facet of our game is more important, he said: “First of all the organisation in the team in a defensive phase, and then the desire that the players have to keep clean sheets, defend well and make it difficult for our opponents. That gives us a big platform.
“If you want to dominate games and suffocate opponents, you have to have the ball, and use it in the best possible way with a maximum threat. When you don’t, try to win it as soon as possible and as far as possible down the pitch. When you cannot do that, you have to do something else. But they all know how important that is in football, every phase of play is to be fair.
“This is the level and it’s been the level in this league for the past six or seven years. The margins are so small, let’s see those numbers at the end of the last game and hopefully if those are maintained, I think we have a good chance.
“The winning [record] is the one that I want! The process is super important and at the end you want that to reflect in the outcome, which is what we are hoping for. We’re still not at the top and we have to transform that into winning and winning and winning, and it’s the only way to have the chance in the last game of the season to do it.”
Following the 2-0 win against Luton Town on Wednesday, Hatters boss Rob Edwards heaped praise on us by suggesting that we had no weaknesses. While Mikel is happy to accept the compliment he feels there is still much more to come from his young side.
He cites the example of our Invincibles who developed an aura that left opponents feeling beaten before we even took to the field, and wants to keep our impressive numbers as high as possible over the coming seasons to recreate that two decades on.
“Managers probably [weaknesses] all the time, [and think] what we don’t have rather than what we actually have,” he added. “But it’s good to hear from other managers what they think about the team. We can still evolve a lot and will try to do that. I think we have many areas [to improve].
“It’s very difficult to have the feeling of what the opponents are feeling. I’ve been in the tunnel playing with a different shirt and looking at the Invincibles and I did have the feeling that tonight is going to be really tough. Hopefully we can create that and that’s something very positive for the team.”
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