Mikel Arteta reacted to Arsenal’s first defeat of the season at Brighton by spending the international break watching videos of other Premier League teams.
Gunners fans may have believed that this season was going to be “scary hours” for the rest of the Premier League. But Daniel Farken didn’t need a rough 60 minutes against previously unbeaten Leeds to know Arteta was the opposite.
The physical battles his side struggled to overcome at the Amex are likely to be a weekly occurrence. They almost did it at Sunderland. And he narrowly escaped against Leeds on Saturday.
The Arsenal boss admitted his side have walked a fine line between playing like champions and being mediocre. It’s a concept Jurrien Timber is on board with.
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So much so that he refused to accept the suggestion that Arsenal’s struggles against high-intensity teams were down to players like himself returning from injury and others like Declan Rice eyeing the World Cup.
Timber said: “The Premier League is going to be tough. Every game is going to be tough. Every game is going to be different. Like Mikel said, the line is very thin, so if you want to win a game you have to be at your best.
“Otherwise, it’s going to be very difficult to win. And that’s the current level. We have no choice but to get to that level and be at our best every three or four days. And I think the team that’s going to be consistently good at those kinds of margins is going to win this season.”
When it comes to spots in the starting lineup, the margin is equally slim. Timber’s second-half appearance off the bench was his first at the Emirates since March after injury ruled him out of the title race and the World Cup. The process for the Timbers to regain their right wing position is simple – do whatever you can.
He said: “It’s hard to miss experiences like this. When you’re able to play, when you’re fit, you realize how lucky you are. It’s hard when your team is fighting for something so big and you can’t help in the way you want.
“It’s also a learning moment. But that’s life, I think I came out of it. We did it. We won the championship, it’s amazing. This team just requires a certain level and certain demands and that’s what we expect from each other. If you want to play, everyone has to do their best.
“You don’t really need motivation. You just have to be at your best and if you’re not, you’re not playing. It’s that easy.”
The Timbers were delighted to be overshadowed by fellow midfielder Bruno Guimaraes, who scored the winner moments after returning to the Emirates.
His strike came after James Justin had given Leeds a 55th-minute lead which was canceled out by Riccardo Calafiori’s close-range header.
Timber added: “I think Bruno coming in was amazing. He changed the energy, the mood, everything.”