Arne Slot insists Mikel Arteta has created a ‘special’ team with Arsenal ahead of their Premier League match against Liverpool on Sunday.
Arsenal will now end the season without a trophy after they were knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night.
A miserable week for Arteta and his Arsenal players will be made worse on Sunday as they will give a guard of honour to newly crowned Premier League champions Liverpool before kick-off at Anfield on Sunday.
In the wake of his side’s Champions League exit this week, Arteta has come under fire for Arsenal’s two performances against PSG, as well as their recent Premier League form which has seen them fall 15 points behind Liverpool in the table.
But Slot has dismissed the criticism Arteta has received following Arsenal’s inability to win a trophy since their FA Cup success in 2020.
‘Mikel should get, in my opinion, a lot of credit for the way his team plays,’ said Slot.
‘Arsenal can play almost every style. It is a big accomplishment to be able to have only one style, but Mikel’s team are capable of being different, as we saw in the two games against PSG.
‘They can play off set-pieces. They can defend in a low block and be the dominant team. They can play a high-press. They can build up from the back or play the long ball.
‘Every part of the game they are good, and that means it is difficult to analyse them because you don’t know what you’re going to face.
‘The only way you can have that is if you work at a club for so many years but not all managers who have been at clubs a long time can play so many styles. This is special. You don’t see it a lot.’
Meanwhile, Arteta believes that Liverpool’s ability to keep their key players available for their Premier League campaign played a huge role in their title success this season.
‘That’s a big thing to win trophies, you know, and they did that extremely well,’ Arteta said.
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