Mkhitaryan - I want to be someone new here

Henrikh Mkhitaryan has come a long way in the past five years.

The Armenia international gained global recognition for his performances during three seasons with Borussia Dortmund before winning the Europa League with Manchester United and joining us in January.

 

Saturday saw Mkhitaryan get off the mark in 2018/19 with a goal and assist against Chelsea, and the 29-year-old is looking forward to reinventing himself under a different coach in north London.

 

“I don’t think you’re going to see the Dortmund Mkhitaryan, because in Dortmund the philosophy was different, the playing style was different, the league was different,” he said.

 

“Arsenal are playing in a different league with a different manager and different team-mates. I don’t want to see the old Mkhitaryan being here at Arsenal. I want to be someone new, someone else who can show that he’s capable of doing the same for Arsenal as well.

 

“I’m not just playing football to play, I’m always playing football to win games and titles. At the end of your football career, people are going to remember you for what you have achieved, what you have won. I’m playing to win titles, I’m doing my best for this club to win titles and of course that’s my main goal.”

While Mkhitaryan was instrumental in us coming back from two goals down at Stamford Bridge, his performance was not enough to prevent us from back-to-back defeats - but the playmaker isn’t worried about results.

 

“We don’t have any pressure,” he said. “We are not thinking that something is going wrong because we’re on the right way. Even if we lose the first two games, it doesn’t mean we’re not going to finish in the top four.

 

“We still have 36 games to go and anything can happen in the English Premier League, everybody knows that. We’re staying positive with our heads up, just working hard for the next games.”