Mikel Arteta revealed he is "extremely grateful" to reach 250 games as our manager, and is fully focused on the future at Emirates Stadium, starting with tomorrow's game against Nottingham Forest.
No Gunners boss has won more matches in their first 250 games than Mikel, who will mark the milestone when we host Forest in the Premier League on Saturday. As well as lifting the FA Cup in his first campaign, Mikel also has the highest win rate of any manager in our history, but, as always, the Spaniard is hungry to keep improving and enjoying further success in our hot seat.
Speaking ahead of the landmark occasion, he said: “I’m extremely grateful, very happy. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it because of the people that I work with every single day and because I understand how lucky I am to be sitting where I am, and you always want more.
“I feel a huge pride to see the people that work in our organisation and how they feel about the club right now, and what we transmit as a football club and as a team.
“But it is about winning and the end, I want more, I want big trophies and we are on that journey.”
There have been many highs on the pitch since Mikel took charge in December 2019, but our manager feels that what has developed off the pitch throughout the club is one of his proudest achievements.
“Bringing the club together, 100%,” Mikel stated. “Lifting the spirit and giving a very clear DNA to the football club and setting it right again to be representing this club and this football shirt, from the players to everybody who works at the club in the way that is expected at this level.”
Forest is the next challenge following a two-week international break as we get set for a busy Christmas schedule, and having enjoyed reflecting on the past, the boss was quick to switch his attention to the future.
Having gone four league games without tasting victory, Mikel was anxious to see how his players would respond after returning from international duty, but is thrilled with the action and believes our supporters will see that positivity on the pitch come Saturday afternoon.
"I think about everything that we’ve done. Is the reason that we haven’t won games because the opponent has been superior to us? The clear answer is no. Should we have won more of those games? The answer is yes. Do I like what our team is doing? The answer is yes, but we have to improve certain things, especially how we have defended attacking the box.
"Overall I can think of a lot of things but I need to understand how the players are, and the only way to do that other than communicating on the phone is when they come back, and the energy of the staff and players yesterday was unbelievable. That's the joy of being with these guys on this journey.
"They love being here, they love to be back with us and that brings the energy up straight away, there’s not much that I need to do. It’s always good to paint the picture and make sure that we’re on the right track."
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