Mikel Arteta said he is blessed to have midfield duo Martin Zubimendi and Declan Rice at his disposal as we gear up for the final five weeks of the campaign.
Summer signing Zubimendi will reach a half-century of appearances should he play against Newcastle this weekend, with Rice just two games shy of the tally.
When asked about his impact on the squad since his arrival, Mikel gave a glowing review: “He’s very good. I mean, to play 50 games for Arsenal in your first season at the level that he’s done and the amount of games that we’ve won, you have to do things in an exceptional way.
“He’s very much liked by everybody. You can sense that if you go back to clips in September, October, November, I can show you when he scored goals or assists or whatever. The reaction and how he feels with his teammates is so good. We are blessed to have him.”
His partner in the midfield, Rice, who captained the team against Bournemouth and Sporting CP, has also been subject to praise from Arteta.
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Every word from Arteta’s pre-Newcastle presser
He said: “We know the player that we have, how blessed we are to have him. This season that he’s having again has been absolutely outstanding and that’s it. It’s about the next performance and now it’s Newcastle, it’s tomorrow and I’m sure he will step up again and make a difference for the team.”
Both players could be key for the final five matches of the Premier League season as we look to end our 22-year wait for England’s top honour.
We currently sit behind Manchester City on goals scored, a metric Mikel is familiar with, having helped Rangers to the Scottish title back in 2003 when he scored a penalty to help them pip rivals Celtic by a single goal.
When asked about the remaining five games, Mikel had one simple message: “I think the clarity of what we have to do, it cannot be better. Five games to go, tomorrow, game one, all in. Let’s go for it.
“You have to put everything into it. That’s what I said. It’s all in. When you’re going to play now, those five games start tomorrow. Everything that you have, you have to put it on the table, and you have to make it happen. That’s clear.
“We know the difficulty of the league. Very clear, the ability and the quality of Newcastle, what Eddie (Howe)’s done with that team and continues to do, we know how tough the opponent is going to be tomorrow. We have to be at our best. If we do that, we’re going to have a big chance to win.”
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