Arteta upbeat about Arsenal future despite ‘challenging’ period

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal have a ‘bright future’ ahead of them despite a ‘challenging’ start to the season.

The Gunners beat Manchester United earlier this month to end a 14-year winless run at Old Trafford.

However, a 3-0 loss to Aston Villa prior to the international break saw Arteta’s side slip to 11th on the table.

Despite the result, Arteta remains positive, telling the club’s website: “It’s part of a process. The results have to be immediate, and the challenge we have with the club we are representing is that we have to win as quickly as possible every game in every competition.

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“So far we have played 14 games in all competitions this season [including the Community Shield], we won 10 and lost four and the four of them have been in the Premier League, so it is a little bit imbalanced.

“There are a lot of things to do, short term and medium term, we have seen a lot of changes not only on the pitch but structurally as a club as well, it’s been difficult, it’s been a challenging time in the last three or four months, a lot of things have happened.

“We have to settle and everyone has to realise where we are now, but I see the future as really bright. I am a really positive person and I tend to learn much more when things don’t go well and we have a defeat like we had the other day that really hurt after the performance we had at Old Trafford.

“We have to understand why it happened, be really critical first of all with myself and try to understand the players better, and give them more solutions to win more football matches.”