Arteta lauds Tottenham attack as Europe’s ‘most special’
Mikel Arteta says his Arsenal side will have to stop one of the “most special” forward lines in Europe when they face Tottenham in Sunday’s north London derby.
Spurs’ attacking trio of Gareth Bale, Harry Kane and Son Heung-Min have found their groove recently and their efforts saw Tottenham hit 100 goals for the season last weekend.
In doing so they became the second team from Europe’s five major leagues to hit that landmark this season, after Bayern Munich, and Arteta is well aware of the challenge that faces his Arsenal defence when they host Tottenham at Emirates Stadium.
Asked how much of a challenge is it to keep Spurs’ strikeforce quiet, Arteta replied: “It’s very difficult because the level of quality, precision, understanding and chemistry that they have between them makes them probably one of the most special ones in Europe.
“And they don’t need much. They are able to create their own chances, they are able to link as a team.
“So it is really difficult to do that, but we will prepare the game well to try to step them obviously.”
Both Arsenal and Tottenham head into Sunday’s game off the back of wins last night in the Europa League.
The Gunners defeated Olympiacos 3-1 in Athens in the first leg of their last-16 tie, while Spurs were 2-0 winners at home to Dinamo Zagreb.
Arsenal, however, have been struggling in the Premier League this season and they sit 10th in the table – seven points behind Tottenham in seventh – ahead of Sunday’s derby.
They have also failed to win any of the past five north London derbies after losing 2-0 to Spurs back in December. They have never gone six derbies without a win.
“Well in the last game we started the game really well, we were very dominant, and the first time that they went through our halfway line they scored a goal. It’s their quality,” said Arteta.
“They are a really organised team, a big threat in every counter-attack situation, good individual skills and great organisation.
“And you can see that the team fights and believes absolutely what the manager’s ideas are, and they are very much together, so it will be a really tough game.”
Arsenal have been improving under Arteta, but they continue to be held back by their own errors.
Even last night against Olympiacos, they were caught out as Bernd Leno tried to play out from the back but only ended up putting Dani Ceballos in a situation that meant the midfielder lost possession.
Youssef El-Arabi capitalised to equalise, but thankfully Martin Odegaard’s first-half opener, and late goals from Gabriel Magalhaes and Mohamed Elneny, spared Arsenal’s blushes.
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“The amount of chances that we are conceding has been really low,” said Arteta. “But the amount of chances that we have given to the opponent has had a big impact in the goals that we have conceded.
“So it depends on us a big part, which is a really positive thing, but we know that it is a part that we want to eradicate to be more consistent with results.”