Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has claimed his players “do not have time to listen to the noise” as they continue to compete on all fronts this season.
The Gunners are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League standings, having also secured top spot in the Champions League’s initial league phase this season ahead of Europe’s other giants.
Earlier in the week, Arteta’s men also advanced to the Carabao Cup final, seeing off London rivals Chelsea to set up a tasty clash with Manchester City at Wembley.
And the North London club are still alive in the FA Cup, where they host lower-league Wigan on February 15.
And speaking ahead of a big clash with Sunderland in the top flight this weekend, the Spanish head coach insists that his players do not have the time to listen to criticism of his tactics or style of play.
He said: “It’s another opportunity to win. To be better in the position. That’s it.
“It’s going to be a really tough match. Sunderland have been in an incredible all season. We know the complexity of the match.
“They are very competitive. Very good individuals. Very well coached. Very clear identity of what they want to do and where they want to take the game. They are very good at it.
“As always, we’ve tried to prepare every weekend. Every opponent is different and bring very difficult challenges and we need to face them and we’ve been doing that for a lot of months now.
“And that’s the thing that we have to continue to do and play with our hunger and commitment every single game. Because if we do that, we have a big chance to win our games.”
Arteta apologises to Rosenior
Arteta was also quick to apologise to Blues head coach Liam Rosenior after he suggested that some of Arsenal’s staff behaved inappropriately during the win at the Emirates on Tuesday.
Gunners staff flooded the pitch after Kai Havertz’s late winner, and Rosenior could be seen agitated and glancing over at the Arsenal bench across the evening.
Arteta added: “I don’t know, it’s his opinion and we respect everybody.
“At any point, if one of the staff members did that, we apologise. It’s very common in football. With the keepers they need to kick long balls.”
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