Mikel Arteta has been on the end of some spiky social media responses after making a big claim about his team and Premier League champions Liverpool in his press conference in Paris.
Arsenal are putting the finishing touches on their preparations for Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Paris Saint-Germain.
With Inter Milan awaiting the winners in the final, the Gunners are chasing down a single-goal deficit after losing 1-0 to an Ousmane Dembele goal in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium.
The Champions League is Arsenal’s last shot at silverware this season but Arteta, whose team fell short as Liverpool secured the Premier League title with matches to spare, believes they could already have a couple of trophies under different circumstances during his watch.
Mikel Arteta (Image: Getty)
Arteta told reporters: “Winning trophies is about being in the right moment, in the right place. Liverpool have won the title with less points than we had in the last two seasons. With the points from the last two season, we have two Premier Leagues.”
Arsenal were comfortably beaten to the title despite favourites Manchester City leaving the door wide open after seeing off the Gunners in the two previous seasons. Liverpool stepped up instead and it’s Reds fans who have most enjoyed Arteta’s technically true but somewhat generous statement.
“This guy is deluded man,” posted a Liverpool fan on X, formerly Twitter. “Arsenal got 84 points and 89 points in the last two seasons. Liverpool could get 90+ if they really wanted to. Why don’t you talk about why you’re sitting on 67 points now and won’t even crack 80?”
“Arteta is the main reason Arsenal fans are delusional,” posited another user.
“He is a perfect representation of their fanbase. They are meant for each other,” agreed one fan.
“Out to PSG tonight, guard of honour on Sunday and Spurs win the Europa League,” hoped one Red. “Swallow that brillo pad.”
“The kind of toxic person you date that will do everything but apologise. They will analyse your reaction, calculate the geometry of your emotions, gaslight you, but they will never be at fault. The universe is always against them,” wittered another poster. “The worst kind of manager to have.”
In amongst the spite, some users simply let the facts do the talking: “After 35 games last season, Arsenal had 80 points. After 35 games this season, Liverpool have 82 points.”
Now that’s a fact worthy of Rafael Benitez.
