Mikel Arteta has told his Arsenal players to use the disappointment of Thursday’s Europa League exit to fuel their push for the Premier League title.
The Gunners boss does not want his men to experience the same emotions again in May that they felt following their penalty exit at the hands of Sporting Lisbon. That 5-3 spot-kick loss, after a 1-1 draw at the Emirates made the tie 3-3 on aggregate, was the kind that could take the wind from players’ sails.
But Arteta and his men can pick themselves up with the knowledge they can go into the international break eight points clear of title rivals Manchester City — albeit having played a game more and with a game against them still to come at the end of April — if they beat a Crystal Palace side for whom the last few days have also been very tricky on Sunday afternoon.
Arteta said: “I tried to give a lot of clarity in the dressing-room and it was all about the message: accept it, swallow it, we have to learn from it. But there is no point now spending one bit of energy or thought that is going to take something out of our game on Sunday.
“We have to be at our best again in the Premier League against Crystal Palace to beat them and I want everybody just recovering mentally and physically to be in the best possible condition for the game.
“I saw a lot of things on Thursday, especially when we were giving a lot of balls away and suffering, that they did it together. The way they reacted, the way they were when we conceded a goal and how the game changed after that… It shows me a lot of positive signs.
“The downside to it is that we could not materialise in the end to win it because at the end I think we deserved to win it and be through, but it wasn’t enough, it was maybe too late.”
To add to the intrigue of Sunday’s game, Palace sacked Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira from his role as manager on Friday after a miserable run. The Eagles haven’t won any of their 12 games in 2023 and, as disappointed as a lot of people will be for Vieira, the writing really was on the wall.
Even before the Frenchman was axed, Arteta, who knows him well, feared some sort of Palace backlash after a dirty dozen games and Vieira’s exit will have only heightened his concern on that front. He added: “They showed against Brighton on Wednesday that it can make them more dangerous.
“So we have to be again better than we were on Thursday in many departments with the same desire and do what we have to do to win the game.”
Arguably the biggest battle for today for both sides will be mental given the events of the last few days but Arteta has been working on that since the final whistle against Sporting. He said: “We worked on that already in the dressing-room on Thursday and on Friday it was about delivering the message about the Palace game and lifting them up and making sure they are there in the best possible condition.”
