Arteta Reacts to Guardiola’s Mind Games and Gabriel Jesus’ Return: Arsenal’s Latest Update

March 13, 2023Last Updated: March 13, 2023

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Mikel Arteta has dismissed Pep Guardiola’s attempts to play mind games regarding the title race, and instead, stated that Arsenal is solely concentrating on approaching each day as it comes. He expressed his joy at seeing Gabriel Jesus make a return. The Gunners had an exceptional performance on Sunday, dominating Fulham with a ruthless first-half display at Craven Cottage. Leandro Trossard assisted Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli, and Martin Odegaard as they comfortably secured a 3-0 triumph.

Gabriel Jesus just oozes class. pic.twitter.com/Eyq1WUW8IL

— ARDENT GOONER (@saltimes) March 12, 2023

On the previous day, Manchester City narrowly defeated Crystal Palace with a penalty scored by Erling Haaland. After the match, Guardiola stated that Arsenal was the top contender for the title, attributing their hunger to end their long Premier League drought as the reason. Arteta, however, has consistently downplayed the title talk and is solely concentrated on approaching each training session, match, and game on a day-by-day and game-by-game basis.

When asked about Guardiola’s comments during his post-match press conference and whether City’s pressure on Arsenal is a positive or negative thing, Arteta responded by saying “I don’t know.”

‘We just discuss what we discuss internally: to be really humble, to work on the next training session and try to be better every day.

‘This is our focus. There is still a huge part of the season to be completed.’

On Arsenal fans chanting about winning the league, Arteta continued: ‘I would be singing with them to support the team, that’s for sure! They’ve been exceptional.

‘The amount of people we had coming here, their attitude, their passion, the energy that they’re putting in is incredible. And we’re going to need that and that’s a game-changer for us, so thank you!’

Reflecting on the win over Fulham, he added: ‘Really happy. Really tough place to come and a really well organised team.

‘I think we dominated the game, we created so many chances, we kept a clean sheet – which was important – and we convincingly won the game, so happy.’

With Arsenal leading by a significant margin, the team was presented with the chance to substitute Gabriel Jesus onto the field for his first appearance in around four months, and Arteta was delighted to see him return and perform well. When asked about Jesus’ return, Arteta stated that it was a big boost for the team, and although they were uncertain if it was the right game for him to play, he looked sharp. A few days prior, Jesus had told Arteta that he still felt like he was missing something.

‘Yesterday I looked at him in his eyes and he said, “I’m ready”. So I said, “Okay”. So then we had the opportunity to throw him in, which is the first step to giving him that boost. He looked free, he generated two big chances straight away and it’s great to have him back.’