Arteta grateful for Arsenal backing ahead of Brentford rematch

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has highlighted the importance of the support that the club gave him at the start of the season, as he looks to exact revenge against a Brentford side that defeated the Gunners back on the opening day.

Goals from Sergi Canos and Christian Norgaard gave the Bees victory against Arteta’s team in their first-ever Premier League game back in August, with the Arsenal boss coming under severe pressure when his side lost their opening three games of the campaign.

Since those three defeats, only Manchester City (18) and Liverpool (14) have racked up more Premier League wins than the 12 accumulated by Arteta’s team, and the Spaniard was keen to praise the Emirates hierarchy for supporting him during that poor run.

“I always felt very well-supported and understood, I’m very much in line with everyone at the club”, Arteta said ahead of the reverse fixture against Thomas Frank’s outfit.

“When we had difficult results, the club always stood with me, and has been really supportive for me and the players, which I do not take for granted.

“Losing matches is part of the job, and you can learn a lot of things. You have to be stubborn, to keep faith in your beliefs.

“That pressure is part of football. That is football today, with the facilities we all have to express our opinions, you know you’re going to be very exposed as a coach.”

Arsenal are sixth in the Premier League, trailing fourth-placed Manchester United by four points and possessing three games in hand, as the north London club look to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since 2016.

While content with his side’s strong run of form, Arteta was keen to play down notions that his team were now favourites to finish inside the top four.

“We have earned the right to be where we are now, and that’s a credit to the club, to the players, to everybody.

“We have to go game-by-game, to maximise the position we are in, and that’s what we are going to do.

“Tomorrow we will try to play well and win the match, that’s the only target.”

Arsenal are looking to preserve a 32-match unbeaten run at home to newly promoted clubs in the Premier League when they host Brentford, a sequence which stretches back to a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle United in November 2010. 

Their visitors, meanwhile, would become the first newly promoted team to do the double over Arsenal since Blackburn Rovers did so in 1992-93 if they were to win in north London.