Arsenal are ready to face their city rivals, namely Tottenham Hotspur in a match titled the North London derby on Saturday (1/10/2022).
In the match later, the Gunners squad is determined to find a seventh victory this season.
Arsenal have only lost one game. Meanwhile, his potential opponent, namely Tottenham Hotspur, has yet to lose in the Premier League competition this season.
Tottenham Hotspur coach Antonio Conte needs to heed his predecessor Jose Mourinho’s praise of Arsena tactician Mikel Arteta.
After Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Arsenal, July 2020, Mourinho paid tribute to Arteta.
“To be honest, I think Mikel Arteta has found a way for them to play and be stable and develop,” said Mourinho.
“They are improving,” added Mourinho.
The comments come as Arsenal are just starting to show improvement after a miserable first half of the season under Unai Emery.
Arsenal ended up finishing in eighth place which led many fans and pundits to put aside talk of what Arteta improved upon.
But a month later Arteta presented the FA Cup as well as his first trophy as Arsenal coach.
Arteta only needed eight months of his coaching career to present his first trophy.
The success sparked praise again from Mourinho.
“He’s a good coach. He’s a talented coach. He has won important competitions in the first few months of his career, which we cannot deny.
“To be Arsenal coach, you have to be good. If you are not good, you are not there,” said Mourinho.
The season after victory in the FA Cup, Arsenal suffered the worst moment in their modern history as they finished eighth for the second season in a row.
Progress came the following season when the Gunners finished fifth or one point behind Tottenham.
Now that Mourinho has been sacked for a long time and Conte has replaced him, the conversation about Arsenal’s improvement is back in the air. Arsenal is staying as one of the team challenger for the title this season.
Entertaining Tottenham later will really be the toughest test for Arsenal. But Conte also needs to heed Mourinho’s earlier comments on Arteta’s performance.
Arteta may be the youngest coach to take charge of Arsenal since December 2019. But he is no longer a rookie coach now.
The club has full confidence in the boss. That was evidenced by the signing of a new contract three years before the end of last season.
Conte commented after his team won 3-0 last May.
He asked Arteta to be more focused instead of complaining a lot, Arteta was advised to be calmer.
Now Arsenal have proven that they are on track to back up Mourinho’s earlier claims given that they are currently in the top spot.
This is not the same team that Conte lost four months ago.
They have added new players, namely Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinvhenko and Fabio Viera and William Saliba.
Mourinho’s message should be on Conte’s mind and serve as a reminder of how quickly Arteta can raise his team’s level.
