Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has heaped praise on Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta for sticking through the tough parts of his journey at the club. It comes as the former Liverpool midfielder looks to draw on some inspiration from elsewhere to get through his own difficult patch of form.
Gerrard's side have picked up four points from their opening six games, sitting just above the relegation zone on goal difference. When asked about his side's form, he told Sky Sports: "It [the Premier League] is the most demanding league in the world, in the bottom, the middle and at the top. It was the same when I played.
"It's not always going to be the perfect journey, and you've got to perform when the heat is on, when it's tough. You've got to roll your sleeves up more and put yourself forward even more.
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"A lot of managers have shown that sometimes you've got to have tough periods, setbacks, and show that you can cope in them moments. Show that you can come through them, and build on them. You've got to be patient and try and get to the stage where the building process continues.
"There's a lot of examples of that – Ralph [Hasenhuttl] is one. You're looking at Mikel Arteta, obviously flying high now at the top of the Premier League now. I bet if you spoke to him, it wasn't all about ups and fantastic times and enjoying it all.
"But what he did do in the tough moments, he stepped forward. I think that's what we have to do as managers in these situations is show your players and supporters, and internal staff that you're all-in and ready for the demands, responsibilities and pressures, and you're going to try to perform to get your team through them."
Gerrard's praise for Arteta comes on a day when his Arsenal side sit top of the Premier League, and he - along with his coaching staff - received the Manager of the Month award for August. It demonstrates a huge turnaround from the Spaniard, who saw his side lose all three of their opening games last year.
The Arsenal boss will be hoping there's plenty more of those to come in the following weeks and months because, as he put it, they haven't done anything yet.
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