Arteta: “We need the crowd even more”

Mikel Arteta has issued a rallying cry to supporters attending Emirates Stadium for Sunday’s game against Liverpool.

Late calls will be made on the availability of a number of key players, while we know that we’ll be without the suspended William Saliba.

So our manager wants us to create a siege mentality, to rebel against the situation, and fight for all three points.

On Friday, he said: “I love watching people, watching individuals, watching teams react to that, and is it ‘look at that and I hate it’?

“I haven’t seen the team once, the staff, I haven’t seen upstairs, I haven’t seen the people talking about it.

“Get on with it, show your teeth, show how much you want it, the amazing opportunity for other people, the amazing opportunity for us as a team to rebel against certain situations, we need the crowd more.

On Sunday, we need them even more, I’m sure they’re going to do that and let’s keep going.”

Mikel was also asked about what he hopes can give us the edge against the current Premier League leaders.

“That things go our way, you know, and that we play the game that we want to play,” he said. “That we play with dominance. We’ve done it in the past, we’ve done it recently, and playing with that belief, energy and commitment that is necessary in a big match like this.

“We are so energised, you know we play Liverpool at home. We really want to play. We have a magnificent squad. The atmosphere is going to be tremendous and I’m really looking forward to the game.”