Regrets? Mikel Arteta definitely has a few, starting with Arsenal’s two defeats against Aston Villa last season. “They scored and we didn’t. Very simple,” was the manager’s analysis of both matches that saw Unai Emery’s side complete the double over his former club for the first time since the inaugural Premier League season in 1992-3.
Arteta was suspended for the 1-0 defeat at Villa Park – where his side return on Saturday evening – in December after being booked celebrating Declan Rice’s 97th-minute winner against Luton a few days earlier and admitted it had been a frustrating experience that he doesn’t want to repeat. “I didn’t enjoy it one bit,” Arteta said. “The moment I love the most during the week, you are building everything to get to that moment on the grass next to the players.”
This time he will have no such issues as Arsenal attempt to set the record straight against a side that has beaten them in five of their past nine league meetings. Villa have not conceded a goal in any of those wins, although it should be noted that Arteta’s side came from behind twice at Villa Park in February 2023 to record a 4-2 win in the first match that pitted him against his compatriot from the Basque Country.
“You have to give credit to them or your opponents when they manage to beat you, whether you merit it or don’t,” Arteta reflected. “There are a lot of things that you can analyse and be very simplistic about because we lost. But there are those things in my opinion that are very relevant as well.”
Arteta paid tribute to Emery and West Ham’s Julen Lopetegui for having “set the standards so high” for him and Andoni Iraola, with all four hailing from an area with a population of about 2 million that makes up 20% of the Premier League manager cast list for the new season. “The way they coached the teams, the way they represented the clubs at the highest level,” he said. “I think that gave a platform for the younger ones like Xabi [Alonso], Andoni and myself to probably earn that curiosity and say, ‘OK maybe there are coaches here’. We have to be very grateful to those two.”
Yet having admitted they have yet to create a Basque managers’ WhatsApp group, and with the 2-0 defeat to Villa in April at the Emirates that turned out to be catastrophic for Arsenal’s title hopes still fresh in his mind, there is no doubt that Arteta would love to get one over Emery.
“I always admire him, as a coach and a person, what he’s doing with his teams,” he said. “He had a difficult time when he was in his first experience here and he didn’t hesitate to take a different project and take it to a completely different level. That tells you everything about the courage of the person.”
Asked whether there was anything personal in their rivalry, he added: “I don’t take things personally. I just have the will to win and to prepare the team in the best possible manner regardless of who I play against.”
Another regret appears to be Arteta’s handling of Emile Smith Rowe, who finished the 2021-22 season as Arsenal’s second-highest scorer but was surprisingly allowed to join Fulham this summer for a fee that could rise to £34m. Arteta said sanctioning the departure of a much-loved graduate from the club’s Hale End academy had been taken with a heavy heart.
“When I had the talk with Emile, I really felt it,” said Arteta. “First of all because I have huge gratitude because he came into the team at a tough moment. I think he was the player that made our supporters and the team click, in a way. I don’t know how to explain it but that was my feeling. Something changed when he came in the team. He created a different energy straight away. And I have a feeling like ‘argh’, that I have not got the best out of him.”
He added: “Obviously a lot of things happened in that time. From my side it was really sad, because I know how those boys feel when they are in that building, how hard everyone works to get them close to the first team, so I feel a huge responsibility to give them the chance. And now, can they sustain this level and make us better? That is the idea.”
Eddie Nketiah could be next to feel Arteta’s ruthless streak, with Nottingham Forest understood to be closing in on signing the striker despite still being expected at training by his current manager. But there was an acknowledgment that the loophole which allows clubs to make pure profit on selling academy products to help them comply with financial regulations “has its consequences”.
“If you take the offside line out tomorrow, a lot of teams are going to defend at a different height,” said Arteta. “Every rule has its consequences. We have to accept that.”
