'There may be bumps, but I see bright light ahead'

Despite a tough start to the season, Mikel Arteta has never lost his innate confidence in his team and his optimism that things would soon turn around.

Now that we're up and running after beating Norwich, our manager revealed how he dealt with those difficult times.

"Life brings you things and you cannot decide it," Arteta said. "There are certain things that you cannot control. What is coming to you is coming for a reason. Sometimes we don’t want to see it, but it’s coming for a reason - and it’s probably for the right reason. 

"Then it’s about how you take it and how you respond to that. The way that everyone around me responded is the way that I responded. That’s why it’s been fine. 

"It’s tough because it hurts, because you want to see something different. But what you want is not always what happens. Things happen for a reason and maybe what is happening had to happen and [maybe] it’s going to be really good for the club and really good for myself and everybody experiencing that situation. We have to believe that.

"When I was a player, I made a decision in my career because I had a personal issue with my parents," he continued. "I decided to go to my former club, Real Sociedad, and that was tough because I had other opportunities, but I did it to be at home next to them, because I thought that was important. 

"I suffered. I didn’t play - I was on the bench and I always said that was the key moment in my career to have more success after. I don’t know how you measure success but to enjoy [it] more, to go to bigger clubs and do that, that was the right moment. Everybody that made those decisions, and the experiences that I had there, it was the right thing that I needed in that moment. 

"At that moment, I couldn’t see it. I was annoyed, upset, angry. I was really bad with myself and everybody but, today looking back at it and reflecting on it, it was the perfect moment in the right time."

So, having gained our first three points of the season against Norwich, how confident is Mikel feeling about the future now?

"I can really see the light," he said. "I’m telling you I’m very positive most of the time. I’ve seen the light and I can see bright lights. There can be bumps in the road within that light, but I can see a lot of light."