Arteta: Arsenal are hurting

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta says the players are ‘hurting’ after recent poor results but is confident they can turn their season around.

The Gunners are 10th in the English Premier League, 15 points behind leaders Manchester United, with the 2-0 defeat to Swansea in their last fixture sparking a supporters’ revolt against manager Arsene Wenger.

But the Spanish midfielder believes the club can work their way out of the mire.

“People are hurting, people are upset with themselves, the players are angry,” he told the Daily Mirror.

“I think that’s a good thing. It’s not like players couldn’t care less, they know what they need to do.

“You look at the players’ faces, the disappointment, the hurt. They want to put it right. You’ve got players here demanding and wanting to do extra training.

“We have been watching videos over and over again of games, looking at what we’ve done wrong. That comes from everyone, absolutely everyone.

“You have to look at yourself and then you have to look at the rest of the players. The most important thing is a player’s attitude, how you go about your job and the players here take responsibility.

“We need to win games, it doesn’t matter how. The players want to put it right. I’m expecting a big reaction. I know we will get that from the players.”

From a personal perspective, Arteta indicated the team’s struggles on the pitch are affecting him off it, while hinting that Wenger may feel January transfer window action is necessary.

“Does it affect me? Ask my missus! I get very frustrated. I love my job, I want to do well and so when it goes badly it affects your personality,” the former Everton man continued.

“We’ve got everything here to be a really, really successful. We all know we can do better and when you feel that you get very frustrated.

“You can always add quality to any team. They can make a difference, bring in more spark and I’m sure they will do that if they feel they need to.”