Mikel Arteta makes ‘Incredible’ Tottenham dig live from Emirates
Mikel Arteta made a slight towards Tottenham after Arsenal’s final home game of the season.
Spurs’ bitter rivals beat Newcastle United 1-0 at the Emirates on Sunday (18 May) in their penultimate Premier League fixture to secure UEFA Champions League qualification for next season.
The Gunners could be joined in the competition by the Lilywhites should Spurs manage to beat Manchester United in the UEFA Europa League final in Bilbao on Wednesday (21 May).
It would be the first time Spurs and Arsenal have both qualified for the Champions League in the same season since 2015/16. However, Arteta’s comments after the win against Newcastle suggest there is no love lost between the North London rivals.
Arteta belittles Tottenham’s position in the Premier League
Tottenham and Arsenal have had contrasting domestic seasons, with 15 places and 33 points separating the two sides in the Premier League with one game left to play.
And Arteta was quick to point to the disparity between the two clubs while praising his side in a post-match interview with Sky Sports at the Emirates Stadium (18 May).
| Team | Wins | Draws | Losses | Points |
| Arsenal | 19 | 14 | 4 | 71 |
| Tottenham | 11 | 5 | 21 | 38 |
The 43-year-old said, “Make sure that it doesn’t get blurry, and it gets recognised what we’ve done.
“Because any other team, and I’ve seen it with one injury, to finishing 8th, 5th, 16th, 17th, what this team has done, in my opinion, to sustain the level throughout the season, with everything that has happened, is incredible.”
The mention of 17th place was clearly a dig at Tottenham, not only for their lowly points tally, but also at Ange Postecoglou for continuously referencing injuries as a key factor.
Spurs’ injury crisis has been well documented and has arguably been overused as a defence for a string of poor performances. However, insinuating that it was only one injury is wide of the mark.
Tottenham’s injury woes a worry ahead of the Europa League final
Postecoglou would have hoped he was out of the woods after recovering most of the players from the winter, when Tottenham‘s first-team absences were in double figures.
They have a far healthier squad going into the final in Bilbao. However, they are critically short in attacking midfield as Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall all picked up season-ending injuries in recent weeks.
It leaves a creative gap in midfield, with the Australian needing to find solutions elsewhere to compensate for the Lilywhites’ losses.
The most likely candidate to take up the mantle is Wilson Odobert, who could be in line to start behind Dominic Solanke following the Frenchman’s trial in that position in the 2-0 Premier League defeat against Aston Villa at Villa Park on Friday (16 May).