Mikel Arteta: ‘I am very hard on myself, believe me’

MIKEL Arteta insists he will keep asking himself the difficult questions in a bid to get Arsenal climbing back up the Premier League ladder.

The Gunners go into their Boxing Day clash against London rivals Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium sitting 15th in the table having collecting just 14 points from 14 league games.

Draws against Southampton and Leeds have offered Arteta little respite in a spell of seven matches without a win – a run of form made much worse by the fact that Arsenal are the third-lowest scorers in the entire division.

Even relegation-placed sides Fulham and West Brom have found the back of the net more than the north Londoners.

Having just completed his first year in charge of the club – his first stint as a manager – Arteta admitted he is discovering the big differences between being the gaffer and being an assistant.

“At the end of the day the decision-making is completely down to you,” the Spaniard (below) explained. “You are in the spotlight when things are going well and when things are not going well. That’s the biggest difference.

“There are a lot of similarities in certain areas but it’s not like being the main man and the decision-maker, and that changes it all.

“I am very hard on myself, believe me. Me and my assistants have a really open relationship and discussions to evaluate everything that we are doing constantly: What can we change? What can we alter? What’s working? How can we maintain them? How can we give players a lift? How can we be more stable in the club?

“It’s a lot of things being discussed all the time, not only with them. It’s the same relationship I have with [technical director] Edu, with the board and the members of staff here. This is not about a man making all the decisions, it’s about how we can make this function better.

“I have to try to be as positive as I can, believe in what we’re doing, try to modify things to make it work better, and stay strong. We’re going through a lot of difficulties, the last thing we want to be thinking of is more problems coming up in the next few months. I’m not in that state of mind. I know the responsibility that I have and why I am here.

“Everybody knows that from a few months ago, this wasn’t going to be resolved really quickly. I think that’s the consciousness of everybody at the club.”