Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has praised Arsenal for showing patience with Mikel Arteta despite a troubling first few seasons in charge of the Gunners. The Spaniard had been at the helm for two-and-a-half seasons prior to the beginning of their 2022/23 title charge campaign and the pressure on his job was evident on numerous occasions.
Despite delivering an FA Cup and Community Shield victory, some Arsenal supporters were calling for Arteta to be sacked. The claims for his dismissal reached an alarming rate in the final few months of 2021 when the Gunners secured just one victory from ten Premier League games which included shock home defeats to Wolves and Burnley and a North London Derby loss.
However, the club stuck with Arteta and are firmly being rewarded this season as Arsenal sit eight points clear of Manchester City at the Premier League's summit.
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Out of their 23 league victories this season, deserved wins over Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester United likely place high on the list of best results. However, the 3-2 victory against Liverpool at Emirates Stadium, where the Gunners came from behind twice, arguably ranks as the highest.
The clash on October 9 was seen by many as the first significant indication that Arteta had transformed the mentality of the squad in north London. Despite their heated clash from the fixture in Merseyside last season, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was full of praise for his managerial adversary.
"Mikel Arteta has been building for a few years now, the outcome is pretty impressive," Klopp said in a press conference on Friday. "I don't know exactly what you can say about us at the moment, so that shows the situation. I know people ask for more time for managers and I think Mikel deserved every minute when it wasn't go well because they are there now."
Signing Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus last summer gave Arsenal a massive boost and Klopp believes those transfer decisions, along with others in past windows, is why the Gunners sit top of the table. "They made good transfers, pretty stable, brought in super important players but not too many," the German coach added.
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