Izuchukwu Okosi
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta spoke on a number of issues Monday night after his team came from a goal down to defeat West Ham United 3-1 as the Premier returns from the World Cup break.
The Gunners are now seven points clear at the top of the table with their rearranged fixture against Manchester City now to hold in February.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe Boxing Day fixture coincided with the visit of legendary former manager Arsene Wenger who is now working as FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development since he departed from the club in 2018.
Arteta who played under Wenger few years before the latter left the club he joined in 1996 hopes the Frenchman’s visit will be one of many to come.
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“The players didn’t know,” Arteta said of Wenger’s visit, which had been kept under wraps until kick-off, ” Arteta told the media after the game at the Emirates stadium.
“We wanted to keep it quiet and allow that space for Arsene. Stan and Josh [Kroenke – son of the club’s shareholder ] are here as well and it was a really special day.
“Thank you so much to him for coming. Hopefully, walking through the building he’s going to feel everything that everybody thinks of him, the legacy he left here.
Arteta, meanwhile, refused to comment on Arsenal’s pursuit of Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhaylo Mudryk.
The Gunners have made a formal offer to the Ukrainian club worth around £55million, though The Independent reports that almost £20m of that sum is understood to be in add-ons.
Mudryk posted an Instagram story of himself watching Monday’s game but when asked for an update in Boxing Day, Arteta said: “You know that I never speak about players who are not with us. I understand that you have to ask me the question.
“We said that we will try and find ways to strengthen the team [if] we find the right players and that’s what I can say.
“The good thing in England is that you don’t have many other matches in other countries at Christmas so hopefully a lot of people watched our game and we gave them a good show.”
Arsenal will be without the injured Gabriel Jesus for the foreseeable future due to a knee injury he sustained during the World Cup in Qatar..
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
