Mikel Arteta expressed his surprise at Theo Walcott’s comments following Arsenal’s 1-1 draw with Southampton in the Premier League on Wednesday night.
The Saints forward stated that he smelt ‘fear’ from Arsenal and Arteta responded by saying ‘he never mentioned that to me’, as he was making reference to the conversation they were having after the game, as quoted by the Mirror.
Both men shared the same dressing room at the Emirates Stadium, but it was Walcott who piled the pressure on his former teammate when he opened the scoring last night.
Whilst Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang saved Arteta’s blushes, this was the response Arteta had to Southampton’s £100k-a-week star [Spotrac], who is on-loan from Everton.
“He never mentioned that to me,” said Arteta. “If he said that, it is his feeling.
“The boys came out in the second half, we scored a really good goal, we were on top in the game, and again we shoot ourselves in the foot.
“I was very disappointed with the red card because in that moment I was thinking to change the centre back straight away – we didn’t even have time to do that. In the end, we got a point that considering the circumstances we have to accept.”
Walcott’s claims are pretty interesting because he knows exactly what it’s like at Arsenal and the mood around the place given that he was there during the difficult periods also.
Whilst they were periods of struggle under Arsene Wenger, it’s nothing like the mess Arsenal are in now.
They have made their worst start to a league season since the ’70s and there aren’t any real signs that things will move towards a positive direction.
Aubameyang breaking his goal drought is something to cling onto, but they need their star man firing if they are to push up the table.
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