MIKEL ARTETA has declared Arsenal the People’s Champions and claims most of the country wants them to win the title.
Wednesday’s 3-1 home defeat by Manchester City knocked the Gunners off the top of the Premier League for the first time in five months.
Yet Arteta is convinced that most people still want his team to win and is determined to tap into that public support.
Ahead of the trip to Aston Villa, Arteta said: “People want us to win the title because they have a lot of sympathy for us, for our players and the way we have done things.
“But I don’t think we have ever been the favourites and that hasn’t changed.
“Manchester City have been the No 1 candidates from day one because they have been in that position for most of the last five years.
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“Before this season, if you had to bet your house on one team, I don’t think a lot of people would have put their money on us.
“But when you see the team performing and winning matches like we have been doing this season, there is more enthusiasm to try to achieve something bigger.
“We have not had many situations to win the title recently, but we want to be in the mix.
“It doesn’t happen overnight and we cannot control what other teams will do, so the only challenge is to win our next game because what happens in the table this weekend is going to change in three weeks’ time, that’s for sure.”
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Yet Arteta is unhappy at today’s lunchtime kick-off at Villa Park coming just 63 hours after Wednesday’s final whistle against City.
And he is calling for the Premier League to change its fixture scheduling to give teams more time to recover from their midweek exertions.
He complained: “There are certain rules with the Champions League teams.
“When you are playing on Wednesday night, you cannot play on Saturday lunchtime. That should apply to any competition.
“It’s been discussed at the managers’ meetings and that is why the changes were made towards the Champions League teams.
“If you follow the same principle physiologically, it is very difficult to turn around in that period to get the best outcome and reduce the injury risk for players.”
Premier League chiefs changed their kick-off rule for the teams involved in the Champions League in May 2021 following a rant from Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp.
But it doesn’t apply to domestic fixtures selected by BT Sport for their 12.30pm Saturday slot.
And now Arteta fears his team could pay the price as they look to end a run of four games without a win.
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He said: “They put the schedule the way they did and it’s a bit unusual, but it is what it is.
“The players are highly motivated for the Villa game because we want to perform well and win.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
