1 year ago
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MIKEL ARTETA will be banking on his “powerful” Arsenal “washing machine” to get a clean sheet and victory at Liverpool tonight.
The Gunners boss has previously tried all the tricks in the book to get his team over the line at Anfield.
GettyThat famously included blaring out Kop anthem You’ll Never Walk Alone during training to prepare his stars for a hostile atmosphere on Merseyside.
Arsenal have not won at Anfield since 2012 — when Arteta was a player — and last season’s 2-2 draw after leading 2-0 put a big dent in their title dreams.
So now, Arteta wants to avoid a repeat cycle by throwing Jurgen Klopp’s fellow title challengers into a spin.
He declared: “You have to go to these stadiums and prove as a team what you are capable of doing.
“I explained that sometimes when you don’t feel at your best and you feel they are on top of you, you cannot get out of that washing machine.
“You try to overcome those situations but that’s a learning curve — it happened once and it didn’t happen again.
“How do we stop it? The game plan and everything that we discussed to try to be away from that game, and put on our washing machine that is very powerful.”
Kop boss Klopp, fearing a more dangerous Arsenal side than they have hosted in recent years, challenged his fans to ramp up the atmosphere this evening.
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And Spaniard Arteta added: “It is different — different like Old Trafford.
“Old Trafford has a beautiful atmosphere as well and is somewhere that historically is an unbelievable place to go. There are a few in this country.
“Our home at the Emirates is one of them as well. A lot of people talk about coming to the Emirates — I don’t think that they enjoy it so much.
“That is just the beauty of it. You have to go to these stadiums and prove what you are capable of.”
Arsenal have had their fair share of flashpoints on Merseyside, with Arteta and Klopp clashing two years ago before Granit Xhaka sparked fury when squaring up to Trent Alexander-Arnold while the Gunners were 2-0 up before drawing 2-2 in April.
As part of his rant about Anfield’s recent lack of atmosphere, Klopp said he should not have to row with his opposite number to get things going.
But hot-headed Arteta, who has picked up his fourth booking of the season, is vowing to be on his best behaviour.
He promised: “There won’t be any trouble. If you want to be at the top, you have to go to these places and be dominant. That’s what we’re going to try to do.
Arteta and Jurgen Klopp have clashed on the Anfield touchline previouslyGetty“You have to play better than them. You will silence the crowd if you are dominant and better than them — just like at any other ground. There is no difference.
“We are going to have to suffer. In every game you have to suffer and you just go through these moments together. How you overcome those moments is a big thing.
“Last season we went through those moments in the second half and we had some difficulties to get over them.
“They extended for a period that was too long and you have to be able to turn those moments around and come back to the state of the game that you want.”
Arteta, who is without midfielder Jorginho with a foot injury, has ended long runs without wins against Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United across his four years — marked this week — in charge at Arsenal.
And that now leaves Liverpool as the last Gunners hurdle . . .
He explained: “We have done it at Old Trafford, we have done it at Stamford Bridge and many other places where we haven’t done it for years.
“This is now the next challenge. Go there and win the game.
“We will have a game plan to try to beat them and leave Anfield with three points. That’s how we are going to prepare the game, for sure.”
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