Mikel Merino has said that Arsenal must not use their mounting injury list as an excuse for their dip in form and insisted that they will never give up on the title race.
The draw against Liverpool on Sunday left Mikel Arteta’s side four points behind the leaders Manchester City, with Arsenal still waiting to discover whether issues that forced off the defenders Gabriel Magalhães and Jurrien Timber will keep them sidelined.
The Brazil defender Gabriel – who was substituted early in the second half and sent for tests immediately after the game – posted a picture of his knee in a protective sleeve on Instagram on Sunday night with the message: “In everything give thanks. We keep fighting together.”
There are concerns that he could be out for a lengthy period of time, while Timber had passed a fitness test in order to face Liverpool after missing the previous four matches. But even with fellow summer signing Riccardo Calafiori also out with a knee problem and the club captain, Martin Ødegaard, yet to return from his layoff, Merino has insisted that Arsenal can overcome their problems when they travel to Preston in the EFL Cup on Wednesday before facing Newcastle at St James’ Park in the early kickoff on Saturday.
“The message is simple – this team is not going to lose their focus, it’s never going to give up no matter what the situation or what time of the year it is,” Merino said.
“The focus is to go 100% and learn from every game. We focus only on ourselves and what we can do to win every single game. We don’t look outside the team – in spite of this result, we don’t look too far ahead, we focus on the present. This is our mentality and it’s what will bring us success in the future.
“Injuries are part of the game and they cannot be an excuse for results. Injuries have pros and cons – one of the pros is that we are seeing young players make their debuts and be involved. As a club, you want to bring young players through from the academy, give them opportunities and you can see this is a club where everyone is able to do a really good job even though we don’t have important players like Martin [Ødegaard] available.”
Merino knows how frustrating being out of action can be having fractured his shoulder during his first training session with Arsenal in August after his move from Real Sociedad. There was a moment during the first half against Liverpool when he appeared to have sustained a similar injury but the 28-year-old was able to continue before going on to score on his first Premier League start at the Emirates Stadium.
“Things happen in football – sometimes you get kicked, sometimes you get a knock, but I couldn’t miss the game. I stood up and kept playing, that’s it,” Merino said.
The former Newcastle midfielder also scored Spain’s winning goal in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 with a header and he is hoping that there are plenty more to come given Arsenal’s prowess at set pieces. “It’s something I do sometimes, hopefully I can score many more goals because it’s a facet of the game where I think I can improve and help this team a lot,” he said.
“We pride ourselves on set pieces because we work hard on them and you can see in games that we are having [good] results from them. It’s not easy to score from set pieces: it takes a lot of commitment and when the first one doesn’t go your way, as a team we are always trying to get better. You try, you fail, you try again and finally you get success.”
