Sept 4 (Reuters) – Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is relishing the prospect of facing long-time friend Xabi Alonso in the Premier League for the first time when the defending champions host Chelsea on Sunday.
Both sides have made perfect starts to the season, withArsenal and Chelsea both taking six points from their opening two matches.
Arteta and Alonso, both 44, grew up together in Spain’s Basque Country and have remained close throughout their playing and coaching careers.
The pair first faced each other as managers in a friendly in 2024 when Alonso was in charge of Bayer Leverkusen, but Sunday’s encounter will be their first meeting in England’s top flight.
“I am really happy for him. It’s incredible because obviously we have the history we have together,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.
“To be facing each other at such a level and with the responsibility we have managing some of the top clubs in the country is a really beautiful thing to experience.”
Chelsea’s attack has been impressive early in the campaign, with Morgan Rogers, Joao Pedro and Cole Palmer all finding form in front of goal, but Arteta said controlling the flow of the game would be crucial.
“That will depend on a lot of factors and game state is a massive one, especially because the two games that they played, they scored very, very early and that changes the momentum and the shift of the game,” Arteta said.
“But they are capable and he’s capable of playing in various ways. He’s been a really successful manager so far.”
TRANSFER WINDOW
Arsenal were linked with a number of high-profile attacking targets during the transfer window, includingRogers, Julian Alvarez and Vinicius Junior, but their only forward addition was Greece winger Christos Tzolis from Club Brugge.
Arteta, however, brushed off suggestions that Arsenal had fallen short in the market.
“I don’t know, these are just opinions,” the Spaniard said.
“The window is closed and I prefer to look at all the incredible things that we have in this squad and not to spend any more time on the things that are not part of us right now. That’s it and that’s my main responsibility.”
Arsenal will lean heavily on the likes of Kai Havertz, Viktor Gyokeres and Bukayo Saka but Arteta insisted the attack is not weaker compared to last season despite the departures of Leandro Trossard, Gabriel Jesus and Gabriel Martinelli
“We have to understand the amount of minutes that those players played and the ones that were injured last year, especially in the first six months, and the data shows something completely different,” Arteta said.
“But it is what it is. It is what we have and, as I said before, we already have some very, very good players.”
(Reporting by Karan Prashant Saxena in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
