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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
David Hytner

Mikel Arteta has built his team to be tougher than Arsenal he played for

Mikel Arteta leads Arsenal training
Mikel Arteta leads Arsenal training this week, as the league leaders look to bounce back from two 1-0 defeats. Photograph: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC/Getty Images

Back in the old days, when Mikel Arteta was an Arsenal player and the team had suffered one of those Arsenal defeats, maybe away from home in the Champions League, it was him and only him who would front up to the press and say what needed to be said.

Actually, that is not true. It was Arteta or Per Mertesacker, sometimes both but never anyone else from the squad. Arteta would be collared as he headed for the team bus, its engine revving impatiently, in the bowels of the stadium in, say, Milan or Dortmund, and he would burn with frustration.

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