{"id":530,"date":"2026-04-14T13:57:40","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:57:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=530"},"modified":"2026-04-14T13:57:40","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T13:57:40","slug":"mikel-arteta-arsenal-manager-admits-he-is-on-fire-as-he-responds-to-claims-his-team-are-bottling-their-season-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/?p=530","title":{"rendered":"Mikel Arteta: Arsenal manager admits he is on &#8216;fire&#8217; as he responds to claims his team are bottling their season | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-component-name=\"ui-article-body\" data-testid=\"article-body\" data-highlight-intro=\"true\">\n<p>Mikel Arteta has called for Arsenal to have &#8220;no fear&#8221; and &#8220;pure fire&#8221; in an extraordinary rallying cry ahead of the biggest week of his career at the club.<\/p>\n<p>Arsenal are attempting to reach back-to-back Champions League semi-finals for the first time in the club&#8217;s history, with a potential Premier League title decider at Manchester City, live on <em>Sky Sports, <\/em>waiting in the wings on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>But Arsenal go into this week on a run of three defeats in four matches, going from four possible trophies to two. And after a shock home defeat by Bournemouth, Arteta&#8217;s ability to keep his team calm in the most important part of the season has been questioned.<\/p>\n<p>But Arteta was at again in the press conference room by admitting he himself is on &#8220;fire&#8221; ahead of the Champions League quarter-final second leg with Sporting CP on Wednesday, with his team 1-0 up on aggregate.<\/p>\n<p>Asked what he wants from his team on Wednesday night, Arteta took his time for a few seconds and then replied: &#8220;No fear. Pure fire. That&#8217;s it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;That&#8217;s what I want to see from the players, the people and myself. Go for every opportunity. It&#8217;s unbelievable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are in April, an incredible opportunity ahead of us. Let&#8217;s confront it and go for it. I am putting everything into it.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Fire! I&#8217;m on fire! That&#8217;s it. Nothing else. I&#8217;m dreaming so much.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-article-image\" data-testid=\"article-image\">\n<figure class=\"sdc-article-image__figure\">\n<div class=\"sdc-article-image__wrapper\" data-aspect-ratio=\"16\/9\">\n          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-mikel-arteta-arsenal_7216922.jpg?20260411133339\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/384x216\/skysports-mikel-arteta-arsenal_7216922.jpg?20260411133339 380w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-mikel-arteta-arsenal_7216922.jpg?20260411133339 760w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/1600x900\/skysports-mikel-arteta-arsenal_7216922.jpg?20260411133339 1024w, https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/2048x1152\/skysports-mikel-arteta-arsenal_7216922.jpg?20260411133339 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 1024px) 1024px, 100vw\" alt=\"Arteta\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/>\n    <\/div><figcaption class=\"ui-media-caption\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption\">\n        <span class=\"u-hide-visually\">Image:<\/span><br \/>\n        <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-testid=\"article-image-caption-text\">Mikel Arteta admits he is on fire right now<br \/>\n        <\/span><br \/>\n      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve done so much to be in this position. Because I know how this club was. I&#8217;ve done so much against anything that I just see beauty, opportunity. I want to get it done who have been on this journey with us. They deserve it, it&#8217;s unbelievable.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I have zero fear. I had fear when: if we don&#8217;t get this done, I don&#8217;t know what happens to the club. Now? It&#8217;s just purpose, fire, direction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked if he is seeing it in his players, Arteta replied: &#8220;Yes. Big time.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>And asked if this is the biggest week of his Arsenal career, Arteta replied: &#8220;The biggest opportunity of six and a half years, yeah.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-site-video sdc-article-widget callfn\" data-account-id=\"6057984924001\" data-amp-iframe-embed=\"\" data-asset-id=\"6e34289d-12cb-4050-b0f9-0b6fcf701625\" data-asset-path=\"\" data-asset-version=\"\" data-autoplay=\"false\" data-auth-config=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/api.condatis.sky\\\/auth\\\/video\\\/token&quot;,&quot;tokenRequired&quot;:true,&quot;fetchMethod&quot;:&quot;url&quot;,&quot;fetchOptions&quot;:{&quot;encoded&quot;:true},&quot;headers&quot;:{&quot;X-SkyGDP-Proposition&quot;:&quot;sportweb&quot;,&quot;X-SkyGDP-Territory&quot;:&quot;GB&quot;,&quot;Authorization&quot;:&quot;OGY5ZDgxZjRhNzYwNGQ3MTljMjFhMDJlOGVmODRhYzA=&quot;}}\" data-caption=\"Sky Sports' Sam Blitz looks at the influence Manchester City's Carabao Cup final win has had over Arsenal and whether it has revealed a blueprint in how to beat the Gunners.\" data-clip-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"sdc-site-video\" data-component-name-alias=\"ui-sitewide-video\" data-competition=\"\" data-copy-url-text=\"URL copied to clipboard\" data-fn=\"sdc-site-video\" data-id=\"id_6e34289d-12cb-4050-b0f9-0b6fcf701625\" data-is-live-stream=\"false\" data-lite=\"true\" data-options=\"\" data-originator-id=\"49\" data-originator-handle=\"brightcove-sport-gb\" data-package-name=\"\" data-provider=\"brightcove\" data-player-id=\"DESF5xFjJ\" data-playsinline=\"\" data-sensitive=\"\" data-sdc-id=\"7219011\" data-sdc-video-id=\"6e34289d-12cb-4050-b0f9-0b6fcf701625\" data-sport-category=\"\" data-state=\"loading\" data-token-state=\"none\" data-video-ad-unit=\"videoplayer\" data-video-blacklisted-originator-ids=\"\" data-video-id=\"ref:6e34289d-12cb-4050-b0f9-0b6fcf701625\" data-video-type=\"\" data-auto-pause-on-not-visible=\"\" data-defer-source=\"\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-closed-captions-position=\"\" data-show-closed-captions=\"true\" data-show-pip=\"\" data-show-live-stream-scrubber=\"\" data-autoload=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__inner\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__content\" data-role=\"bridge-controller\" style=\"padding-bottom: calc(100% \/ ());\">\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>          <span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-role=\"poster\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/football-asrenal-arteta-guardiola_7219041.jpg?20260413150942\" alt=\"Arsenal\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/football-asrenal-arteta-guardiola_7219041.jpg?20260413150942 600w,https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/1600x900\/football-asrenal-arteta-guardiola_7219041.jpg?20260413150942\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-poster\"\/><br \/>\n          <span class=\"sdc-site-video__loader\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-loader\"\/><\/p>\n<p>          <\/span><\/p>\n<p>          <video id=\"id_6e34289d-12cb-4050-b0f9-0b6fcf701625\" data-embed=\"default\" data-application-id=\"\" class=\"video-js sdc-site-video__tag\" controls=\"\" playsinline=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-video\"\/>\n        <\/div><figcaption class=\"sdc-site-video__caption ui-media-caption\">\n<p>          <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-role=\"caption-text\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-caption\">Sky Sports&#8217; Sam Blitz looks at the influence Manchester City&#8217;s Carabao Cup final win has had over Arsenal and whether it has revealed a blueprint in how to beat the Gunners.<\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<h3>Arteta reacts to Man City fan &#8216;bottle&#8217; moment<\/h3>\n<p>Arsenal have been accused of &#8220;bottling&#8221; the Premier League title race, as they missed the chance to go 12 points clear of Manchester City on Saturday, before Pep Guardiola&#8217;s side &#8211; who have a game in hand &#8211; cut their lead to six by beating Chelsea on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>One Manchester City fan drank from an Arsenal &#8216;bottle&#8217; in the away end &#8211; a clip which ended up going viral &#8211; and Arteta responded to that moment.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One fan?&#8221; Arteta replied. &#8220;One fan that says something, over 60,000 fans that are incredible at the Emirates? I don&#8217;t get moved by that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-site-video sdc-article-widget callfn\" data-account-id=\"6057984924001\" data-amp-iframe-embed=\"\" data-asset-id=\"d9e2a8cf-e5b7-41da-a4ad-e2bf5da3d67c\" data-asset-path=\"\" data-asset-version=\"\" data-autoplay=\"false\" data-auth-config=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/api.condatis.sky\\\/auth\\\/video\\\/token&quot;,&quot;tokenRequired&quot;:true,&quot;fetchMethod&quot;:&quot;url&quot;,&quot;fetchOptions&quot;:{&quot;encoded&quot;:true},&quot;headers&quot;:{&quot;X-SkyGDP-Proposition&quot;:&quot;sportweb&quot;,&quot;X-SkyGDP-Territory&quot;:&quot;GB&quot;,&quot;Authorization&quot;:&quot;OGY5ZDgxZjRhNzYwNGQ3MTljMjFhMDJlOGVmODRhYzA=&quot;}}\" data-caption=\"Man City fan pretends to drink from an Arsenal water bottle after Man City go 3-0 up against Chelsea.\" data-clip-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"sdc-site-video\" data-component-name-alias=\"ui-sitewide-video\" data-competition=\"\" data-copy-url-text=\"URL copied to clipboard\" data-fn=\"sdc-site-video\" data-id=\"id_d9e2a8cf-e5b7-41da-a4ad-e2bf5da3d67c\" data-is-live-stream=\"false\" data-lite=\"true\" data-options=\"\" data-originator-id=\"49\" data-originator-handle=\"brightcove-sport-gb\" data-package-name=\"\" data-provider=\"brightcove\" data-player-id=\"DESF5xFjJ\" data-playsinline=\"\" data-sensitive=\"\" data-sdc-id=\"7218234\" data-sdc-video-id=\"d9e2a8cf-e5b7-41da-a4ad-e2bf5da3d67c\" data-sport-category=\"\" data-state=\"loading\" data-token-state=\"none\" data-video-ad-unit=\"videoplayer\" data-video-blacklisted-originator-ids=\"\" data-video-id=\"ref:d9e2a8cf-e5b7-41da-a4ad-e2bf5da3d67c\" data-video-type=\"\" data-auto-pause-on-not-visible=\"\" data-defer-source=\"\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-closed-captions-position=\"\" data-show-closed-captions=\"true\" data-show-pip=\"\" data-show-live-stream-scrubber=\"\" data-autoload=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__inner\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__content\" data-role=\"bridge-controller\" style=\"padding-bottom: calc(100% \/ ());\">\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>          <span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-role=\"poster\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-man-city-fan_7218265.jpg?20260412183811\" alt=\"Thumbnail\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-man-city-fan_7218265.jpg?20260412183811 600w,https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/1600x900\/skysports-man-city-fan_7218265.jpg?20260412183811\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-poster\"\/><br \/>\n          <span class=\"sdc-site-video__loader\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-loader\"\/><\/p>\n<p>          <\/span><\/p>\n<p>          <video id=\"id_d9e2a8cf-e5b7-41da-a4ad-e2bf5da3d67c\" data-embed=\"default\" data-application-id=\"\" class=\"video-js sdc-site-video__tag\" controls=\"\" playsinline=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-video\"\/>\n        <\/div><figcaption class=\"sdc-site-video__caption ui-media-caption\">\n<p>          <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-role=\"caption-text\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-caption\">Man City fan pretends to drink from an Arsenal water bottle after Man City go 3-0 up against Chelsea.<\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I show (my players) all the people and players that love these players for what they&#8217;re doing which is unprecedented in this club.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What we are trying to achieve, it&#8217;s difficult, challenging, bumpy at times. It&#8217;s supposed to be like this. You have to confront it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Arteta defended Arsenal&#8217;s recent wobble in form &#8211; admitting that getting over the line to claim a first Premier League title in 22 years, and reaching the latter stages of the Champions League is meant to be difficult.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are trying to do something, in this competition, that hasn&#8217;t been done in the history of the club &#8211; in 140 years,&#8221; said the Arsenal manager. &#8220;That tells you the difficulty of that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sdc-article-widget sdc-site-video sdc-article-widget callfn\" data-account-id=\"6057984924001\" data-amp-iframe-embed=\"\" data-asset-id=\"5ac9629c-223c-43c9-abab-2d8559116e94\" data-asset-path=\"\" data-asset-version=\"\" data-autoplay=\"false\" data-auth-config=\"{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/api.condatis.sky\\\/auth\\\/video\\\/token&quot;,&quot;tokenRequired&quot;:true,&quot;fetchMethod&quot;:&quot;url&quot;,&quot;fetchOptions&quot;:{&quot;encoded&quot;:true},&quot;headers&quot;:{&quot;X-SkyGDP-Proposition&quot;:&quot;sportweb&quot;,&quot;X-SkyGDP-Territory&quot;:&quot;GB&quot;,&quot;Authorization&quot;:&quot;OGY5ZDgxZjRhNzYwNGQ3MTljMjFhMDJlOGVmODRhYzA=&quot;}}\" data-caption=\"Gary Neville suggests Mikel Arteta and his team need to normalise their preparation as much as possible ahead of their massive title run-in match against rivals Manchester City. \" data-clip-type=\"\" data-component-name=\"sdc-site-video\" data-component-name-alias=\"ui-sitewide-video\" data-competition=\"\" data-copy-url-text=\"URL copied to clipboard\" data-fn=\"sdc-site-video\" data-id=\"id_5ac9629c-223c-43c9-abab-2d8559116e94\" data-is-live-stream=\"false\" data-lite=\"true\" data-options=\"\" data-originator-id=\"49\" data-originator-handle=\"brightcove-sport-gb\" data-package-name=\"\" data-provider=\"brightcove\" data-player-id=\"DESF5xFjJ\" data-playsinline=\"\" data-sensitive=\"\" data-sdc-id=\"7218293\" data-sdc-video-id=\"5ac9629c-223c-43c9-abab-2d8559116e94\" data-sport-category=\"\" data-state=\"loading\" data-token-state=\"none\" data-video-ad-unit=\"videoplayer\" data-video-blacklisted-originator-ids=\"\" data-video-id=\"ref:5ac9629c-223c-43c9-abab-2d8559116e94\" data-video-type=\"\" data-auto-pause-on-not-visible=\"\" data-defer-source=\"\" tabindex=\"-1\" data-closed-captions-position=\"\" data-show-closed-captions=\"true\" data-show-pip=\"\" data-show-live-stream-scrubber=\"\" data-autoload=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__inner\">\n<div class=\"sdc-site-video__content\" data-role=\"bridge-controller\" style=\"padding-bottom: calc(100% \/ ());\">\n<p class=\"sdc-site-video__accessibility-message\" data-role=\"accessibility-message\">Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player<\/p>\n<p>          <span aria-hidden=\"true\" data-role=\"poster\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster\"><br \/>\n            <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-arsenal-g-nev-pod_7218309.jpg?20260412192457\" alt=\"Gary Neville advises Arsenal to 'normalise' their preparation as much as possible ahead of their title crunch game against Man City\" srcset=\"https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/768x432\/skysports-arsenal-g-nev-pod_7218309.jpg?20260412192457 600w,https:\/\/e0.365dm.com\/26\/04\/1600x900\/skysports-arsenal-g-nev-pod_7218309.jpg?20260412192457\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"sdc-site-video__poster-img excluded-image\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-poster\"\/><br \/>\n          <span class=\"sdc-site-video__loader\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-loader\"\/><\/p>\n<p>          <\/span><\/p>\n<p>          <video id=\"id_5ac9629c-223c-43c9-abab-2d8559116e94\" data-embed=\"default\" data-application-id=\"\" class=\"video-js sdc-site-video__tag\" controls=\"\" playsinline=\"\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-video\"\/>\n        <\/div><figcaption class=\"sdc-site-video__caption ui-media-caption\">\n<p>          <span class=\"ui-media-caption__caption-text\" data-role=\"caption-text\" data-testid=\"sitewide-video-caption\">Gary Neville suggests Mikel Arteta and his team need to normalise their preparation as much as possible ahead of their massive title run-in match against rivals Manchester City. <\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;We value a lot where we are. We want to be in the semi-finals. We are in a really strong position in the Premier League for 22 years without doing it. So we know the difficulty of that. The beauty of it, is that it&#8217;s difficult.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We haven&#8217;t been in this position in the Champions League ever in our history. We have overcome a lot of hurdles that were there for 140 years, they&#8217;ve never been done before.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If we want to go to the next step, for sure, we have to have more ambition than anyone else. We are doing it, and are very, very close.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;What I love about where we are is that there is no satisfaction about it. You haven&#8217;t asked me any questions about: congratulations, you&#8217;re going to be in the Champions League next year.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Now we take it for granted. I assume the next 20 years this club is going to take it for granted that you&#8217;re fighting for titles in April. C&#8217;est fini. That&#8217;s great.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I do value a lot what the players have done.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mikel Arteta has called for Arsenal to have &#8220;no fear&#8221; and &#8220;pure fire&#8221; in an extraordinary rallying cry ahead of the biggest week of his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esport.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}