Mikel Arteta has insisted that Arsenal’s bright start to the 2022/23 campaign “doesn’t mean anything” as they are only three games into the new season.
The Gunners maintained their perfect start to the new term on Saturday with a 3-0 victory over AFC Bournemouth. Martin Odegaard’s double and a smart finish from William Saliba sent Arsenal to the top of the Premier League.
This time last season, some were calling for Arteta to be sacked as Arsenal had no points and failed to score a goal in three games.
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But despite the turnaround, the Spaniard is keen to keep his feet on the ground and not let the winning start lead to complacency.
“It’s just three games, it doesn’t mean anything,” he said of being top of the table.
“What it means is the team is playing really well, we won three games, we’re scoring goals, we’re keeping clean sheets, the team is playing and performing well, it’s competing really well.
“But it’s about Monday and getting better at other things that we have to do better and focus on Fulham.”
The summer signing of Gabriel Jesus has done much to herald such a stark turnaround in fortunes and, while he did not add to his goal tally on the south coast, the Brazil forward was again instrumental.
He was heavily involved in Odegaard’s opener, claiming the assist for the second and then seeing a goal of his own ruled out by VAR for a tight offside call.
Asked what Jesus, who ended the game with the captain’s armband, has brought to the club since his arrival from Manchester City Arteta added: “New confidence, spark, and that winning mentality that he has and the way he competes for every ball and the way he transmits his energy and his quality to the rest of the team.
“You can see that in the way he was involved today. He didn’t score, he got a goal disallowed unfortunately but he was in every action.”
Arteta went on to joke that Saliba had been practising his goal in training all week and when pushed on another fine display from the France international replied: “The most important thing for a defender, defend, keep a clean sheet. The most important thing to do is to keep that clean sheet every game.”
For newly-promoted Bournemouth, their opening day win over Aston Villa seems a long time ago following heavy defeats to Manchester City and now Arsenal.
They face a tough trip to Liverpool next week after a…
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