Mikel on Brentford’s clear vision and identity

Mikel Arteta was full of praise for Thomas Frank and his side in his pre-Brentford press conference at Sobha Realty Training Centre on Friday afternoon.

Frank, who told reporters he was at Emirates Stadium for our 3-0 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday, has been the Bees boss since 2018 and is the second longest-serving Premier League manager, behind Pep Guardiola.

Asked how much he respects the work being done in west London, our manager said: “A lot. More than respect, probably it’s admiration. He's done it with a football club where everybody shares the vision, they have a very clear identity.

“It's a club, a team that we can learn a lot from because the way they did it is very, very clever, in my opinion, and then the way the model has sustained and evolved as well is really well timed. Look at the results that they had away from home in the last six matches as well, we know what it's going to require from us to beat them.

“They have many [threats]. They are really aggressive in the high press. If they turn the ball over in transition, they are really good, really well organised. When they go really deep, they have runners from deep as well to help you in that situation. Any restart of play can become a set-piece and they play from that and create a lot of chaos, so you have to be very well prepared.”

With this game coming between our huge Champions League quarter-final fixtures against Real Madrid, Mikel was asked about how to approach the weekend’s match and if it’s hard to bring the players back down to earth.

“We play every three days and in different competitions,” he explained. “The biggest stage is playing in Europe, and then we come back to the Premier League and have a completely different game, completely different opposition and context around the game. If you want to become a team that can win in any of those, you have to do it every three days, regardless of what the scenario is.

“It's not about bringing them back [down to earth]. It's now maintaining that energy and that momentum and using it towards Brentford and the very difficult game that we're going to face against a team that, when you look at what they've done, it's just incredible.

“It's remarkable, it's a beautiful story and they have earned it in the way they work, in the way they organise, in the way they believe, in the way they play. So big credit to them, it's going to be a really tough test for us.”