Former Barcelona, Chelsea and Arsenal midfielder, Emmanuel Petit, sat down with AS to talk about everything from Arteta to Mbappé and more.
Emmanuel Petit lays back on his Parisian sofa as the sun drips through the curtains. “It’s been sunny recently, let’s enjoy it”, he smiles as we sit down for a chat.
We start with the Premier League, which he says “has been a very exciting season so far” while commenting that he is happy to see the title race between three teams. One of them, Arsenal, is where Petit played between 1997 and 2000.
Right now, Mikel Arteta has Arsenal at the top end of the table, fighting it out with City and Liverpool for the title. “I know that in modern football” Petit nods in approval when I mention Arsenal’s manager, “especially at top clubs, you don’t have time to put on the pitch what you want to do, the vision you have for your players. I know about all the criticism he has received when he first signed for Arsenal, all the troubles he had to manage in the dressing room with players like Aubameyang, for example.”
“Step by step you know, this team came back with their DNA on the pitch, and they gave back to the fans, to everyone who loves Arsenal and the job [Arteta] has done is remarkable.”
“And I think it’s amazing what he’s doing with this staff because he’s got a proper vision on the pitch, a proper identity into the game, but he is ruthless with his players, he loves his players but they don’t get a margin to do what they want, they have to follow the rules all the time. The team is the star; players are not the stars, and the team is the star and he puts a real mentality into this team and a real unity and a great identity on the pitch.”
Presented with a ticking clock and the risk of talking
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