Arteta urges perspective after Arsenal defeats

Mikel Arteta admits successive defeats have slowed Arsenal’s momentum but the Gunners boss is keeping a sense of perspective as he prepares for tomorrow’s FA Cup clash against Liverpool.
Arteta’s side have slipped from the top of the Premier League table to fourth after taking just one point from their past three games. Even the 1-1 draw at title rivals Liverpool two weeks ago was tinged with frustration as Arsenal squandered an early lead.
Arteta said recent defeats by West Ham and Fulham had been damaging but he was determined not to over-react ahead of the Liverpool showdown. “Until Christmas Day we were top of the league,” he told reporters. “Six days later, we are fourth, so you can be very tempted to look at things with a microscope or with a telescope and look a little bit further and with a little bit more perspective. My job big time is to look through the telescope and have perspective and analyse things in the proper way.”
Arteta said neither league leaders Liverpool nor Arsenal were expecting such a high-profile match in the third round of the FA Cup, the stage at which Premier League clubs enter the competition. “It is the draw,” he said. “We played two weeks ago and it was an incredible match and I’m sure it will be a really good match again. We don’t have a choice. If you ask both teams, probably in the draw we were expecting something different, but we have this incredible clash in this round and we have to go for it.”
No club has won the FA Cup more often than Arsenal’s 14 triumphs and Arteta said he had a “real feeling” for the competition, which brought him his first silverware as Gunners boss in 2020. “It’s a great competition especially for the club,” he said. “We have won it more times than anyone so we expect a great game and a good run.”
Klopp not wishing Salah luck at Africa Cup of Nations
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp joked on Friday that he is not wishing Mohamed Salah too much luck at the Africa Cup of Nations as he prepares for a crucial spell of games without his top scorer. Salah is away with Egypt for the tournament in Ivory Coast while Japan captain Wataru Endo will be involved at the Asian Cup in Qatar, with both players expected to go deep in the respective competitions.
That could mean they will not be back until the second week in February but Klopp said he sent them on their way this week without wishing them too much success. “I said if I wish you good luck it would be a lie,” Klopp said ahead of Liverpool’s FA Cup third-round tie at Arsenal. “From a personal point of view, I would be happy if they go out in the group stage but that’s probably not possible. They can go on and win it. So it was ‘Good luck and come back healthy’. We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. I am pretty positive that we will find a way.”
Klopp does not really have a suitable replacement for Salah, who plays on the right side of his attack and has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season. Midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai was touted as a potential option but he has been ruled out for at least two matches with a hamstring injury sustained in the New Year’s Day win over Newcastle. But Klopp, whose side are top of the Premier League, is confident Liverpool can fill the hole left by Salah.
“I think we played against West Ham (in last month’s League Cup quarter-final) without Mo on that side and Harvey Elliott played there,” he said. “We have different offensive options who can all play that wing in a different way. Nobody else can play like Mo, it is not possible – we just have to use the boys with their skills.
“Do we want to play without Mo? No. In the past we didn’t have to do it often but we always found a way.”