ARSENAL manager Mikel Arteta believes Brentford will give the Gunners a tough game on Friday night.
The newly promoted side host Arsenal at the Brentford Community Stadium on Friday in the first match of the 2021/2022 Premier League campaign, and Arteta is not taking them lightly.
“No, Brentford will not be cautious. If you look historically at what they’ve done in the last few years there’s a very clear direction,” the 39-year-old Spaniard said in his first pre-match press conference of the new season.
“I think from top to bottom of the club they know what they want to do and they execute it really well. I think they will be a really tough opponent for every team in the Premier League.
“There’s clarity in what they do. They’ve been doing it for a long time together and you can see they have that fluidity and chemistry between them, and they believe that the plan they’ve put in place works for them. I think that’s a big strength for any team.”
When asked about Ivan Toney, who scored a record 31 regular season goals in the Championship last term, Arteta said: “Yeah, he’s shown his quality, that’s for sure, but every recruitment they’ve done in that position over the last few years has been pretty successful, so it’s the player, but I think it’s also the system and how they work with their players.”
The former Arsenal midfielder was asked for updates about the club’s transfer business, but he did not confirm or deny anything, including the impending sale of Joe Willock to Newcastle and the rumoured pursuit of Sheffield United goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.
“Well, in this first period of the transfer window I think we’ve done a few things we wanted to do and it’s going to help us to get the squad in a much better place,” Arteta offered.
“There is still a bit of the window to go, so I’m sure things will happen either way.
“I’m willing to work with the players that I have at the moment and get the best out of them, and we will see what we can do.
“Well, we identified what we wanted to do and how we can strengthen our team short, medium and long term, and what we needed to achieve that.
“We defined the profile of player that suits the model that we have at the moment at the club that can sustain our financial position, and we made three movements in relation to that.”
When he was specifically asked about Ramsdale and Willock, Arteta replied: “I cannot tell you (about Ramsdale), I have no answers to that.
“The situation is that he’s our player (Willock) and we’ve held some conversations because it’s not only about what we want to do, it’s the player’s interest and the role that a player can field in a squad and in a club.
“What he’s done is put himself in a really strong position where he can choose a little bit with more options of what his future could look like, and this is what we’re trying to define right now.
“I don’t know (if Willock will still be at Arsenal in September). In football I’m not going to do that because if not, you will come with the quote that you said at the end of last season, so I would prefer not to answer to that.”
Arteta also refused to be drawn into revealing his target for the season and what would represent a successful campaign for Arsenal.
He said: “Our goal is to get the best version consistently that’s going to bring us closer to winning football matches. That’s what I want from the team.
“If we do that consistently in every single match, we’re going to be in a good place, but that’s something we haven’t done, consistently give the best version. That’s something we must control and we must do, and I think if we’re able to do that, then the results will be the consequence to that.”
On the league position he is aiming for at the end of the season, Arteta said: “On Friday, win against Brentford, then we will be in a strong position in the league. That’s what we have to do and then the rest will come.”
Arteta also spoke about his new £50m defender Ben White, Brentford manager Thomas Frank, and the recent big moves of Lionel Messi to Paris Saint-Germain and Jack Grealish to Manchester City for a British record £100 million.
He added: “I am very excited (about White). He is a player that we have looked at for a long time. He fitted the profile of exactly what we wanted and he’s settling in really well.
“There are always different ways [into management]. I think what Thomas has done is remarkable.
“I will share with you the opinion that they are a very exciting team and the way they have come up after a few disappointments in the last few seasons, on the last day, and the way they have reacted tells a lot about them and what Thomas has done there it’s fantastic.
“It is certainly really good for the entertainment (Messi and Grealish transfers). You want to see these teams play with the quality of those players. It’s something that is probably unprecedented in the days of PSG, probably.
“This is what they are, they can afford it and they will enjoy it for sure.”
