Inside Mikel Arteta’s inspirational Arsenal teamtalk as boss used All Or Nothing clip to reignite title bid vs Newcastle
MIKEL ARTETA showed his Arsenal players a video nasty of last year’s Newcastle meltdown to reignite their title charge.
The Gunners’ battling 2-0 triumph at St James’ Park moved them to within a point of Premier League leaders Manchester City.
And boss Arteta warned City counterpart Pep Guardiola his stars “will not turn our backs on the prize”.
The Arsenal manager inspired his team in their hotel with a replay of a dressing-room clip from the Amazon documentary All Or Nothing after the Magpies KO’d their Champions League hopes last season.
And goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale revealed “Last year wasn’t mentioned until the team meeting before we left the hotel.
“The manager showed us a clip of the documentary, all our faces, staff included, and how hurt we were.
“So we had the burning desire as soon as we left the hotel that it wasn’t going to be the same today.
“It might have given us extra motivation because we are fighting Manchester City to try and do something special.
“It gave us that extra bit when we needed to dig deep. It really helped us.”
The north Londoners responded in brilliant fashion with skipper Martin Odegaard’s 14th-minute opener and Fabian Schar’s second-half own goal sealing a huge win.
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It puts pressure on Guardiola’s Treble-chasers, who still have away games at Everton, Brighton and Brentford — plus Chelsea at home.
The Amazon footage was taken after last May’s crushing 2-0 defeat at St James’, which gifted bitter rivals Tottenham a Champions League spot.
In it, furious Spaniard Arteta raged: “It is f****** embarrassing. It is f****** unacceptable.”
But after yesterday’s stunning victory, Arteta revealed: “This feels like our best performance of the season. There was the desire for revenge. They had that in their bellies.
“When you have the emotions we had last year in that dressing room, you have to feel them again, realise how nasty they were. We had to put it right.”
On his video team-talk he added: “It is not enough just to talk about it.
“We have to see it in our faces and understand the emotions.
“You don’t want to be like this anymore, it is a horrible feeling.
If City slip up, hopefully we’ll be there to pick up the pieces
Aaron Ramsdale
“Today we had to show a different type of competitiveness, desire and then quality.
“There was a lot of emotion from what happened last year here and in sport, when you have another opportunity, you have to show you have learned and approach it from a different way.
“I saw the fight in them to do it a different way today.”
Arsenal can still reach 90 points if they beat Brighton (H), Nottingham Forest (A) and Wolves (H) in their final three games.
Arteta had mentioned that 90-point mark — the same total Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2003-04 reached — as a potential title-winning tally back in January.
And Ramsdale warned City: “We’ll be going as hard as we can for three games. The title is not in our hands but we will be pushing as hard as we can every step of the way.
“If City slip up, hopefully we’ll be there to pick up the pieces.
“There was immense pride in the dressing room, especially after what happened last year. To come here and impose ourselves on this game and the crowd, we’re really proud.”
You are playing for a championship. Let’s keep digging and see what is there
Mikel Arteta
Long-time Prem leaders Arsenal have reignited their title hopes alive after three successive draws were followed by a 4-1 defeat at the Etihad.
Yesterday’s victory followed the Gunners’ 3-1 win over Chelsea last Tuesday.
And Arteta said: “It feels very different to ten days ago.
“We are there and we want to keep digging. The prize is there, it is not too far.
“The only thing we can do is not turn our backs, keep going and let’s see what happens.
“We have done it for ten months and we have to keep digging every day.
“The demands are incredibly high. There are three games to go and we are still there.
“Before the game, I felt I would put my boots on because the atmosphere was incredible.
“That is what you want. You are playing for a championship. Let’s keep digging and see what is there.”