Arteta looking forward to winter break after Arsenal’s ‘tough’ few months | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says he is looking forward to the Premier League’s winter break after a ‘tough’ few months for his Arsenal players.

The north London side were held to a goalless draw at Burnley in their final fixture before the scheduled break, with Arteta now set to take the squad to Dubai for some warm weather training as they bid to kick-start their season over the final 13 games of the campaign.

The draw at Turf Moor leaves the Gunners in 10th and means they have won just six of their 25 league fixtures so far, with no side having ever registered more than their 13 draws at this stage of a Premier League season.

Arteta has enjoyed a mixed start to his tenure at the Emirates since arriving as Unai Emery’s successor earlier this season, and the Arsenal boss admits he is looking forward to the scheduled break as he looks to improve the side’s fortunes in the coming months.

“It’s good to go away,” Arteta told Arsenal Player. “The players have been through a lot.

“The last two or three months have been tough for them so I want to give them a few days off. Then we’re going to go to Dubai, start working and focus on Newcastle.

“We have to stay positive. It’s very tough to come [to Burnley] and when the game develops like this, to control it is hard. I wanted to win so badly and I’m disappointed.

“I’m more disappointed with the unnecessary balls we have given away and put ourselves in trouble with. They press high and they are good at that but in many phases of the game, we could have done better.

“When we did better, we generated the chances we wanted.”

Arteta highlights defensive improvements after Arsenal’s 0-0 draw with Burnley

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