Arsenal boss Arteta not thinking of walking away

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says he has no plans to walk away from his job and feels he has the support of the club.

The Gunners have failed to win any of their past seven Premier League games, losing five and drawing two, as they have dropped to 15th in the table.

“I don’t like to think about those steps [walking away] because then I will be thinking in a negative way and I cannot do that,” said Arteta.

“At the moment, I have to try to be as positive as I can.”

Arteta was speaking before Arsenal host Manchester City on Tuesday in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.

“We’re going through a lot of difficulties, the last thing we want to be thinking of is more problems coming up in the next few months. I’m not in that state of mind,” he said.

“I know the responsibility that I have and why I am here. Everybody knows that from a few months ago, this wasn’t going to be resolved really quickly. I think that’s the consciousness of everybody at the club.”

Arteta was appointed by the Gunners in December 2019 and led the club to win last season’s FA Cup.

However, his side have struggled this season and scored just three goals in their past seven league outings.

He insisted there was “unity” in the dressing room and the atmosphere is “as good as it can be when we are all hurting because results in the Premier League are hurting us”.

The Spaniard added: “From within the club everything I am feeling is just support, encouragement and total confidence that we will get through this together.

“A club of this stature deserves the best and when it is not happening, everyone is going to question what is happening.

“I am the most responsible one in terms of results, so I have to accept that.”

Arsenal go into the game with City on the back of a 2-1 defeat at Everton and without striker Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, who has a calf injury.

Arteta says he does not read “all the comments” about his side and urged his players to do the same.

“If I started to read all the comments, whether they are positive or negative, it would drive me mad,” he said.

“My suggestion to every player is exactly the same. All the time it happens with social media as well because you cannot control who is writing or what their intentions are, so it is a very dangerous thing to do.”

Asked what he was like as a player when things weren’t going his way, the former midfielder said: “I liked to look around me, whether it’s the staff, coaches, players and I wanted to see fighters.

“Normally when that happens, you have two types of people: fighters and victims.

“You need fighters and you don’t want any victims. Victims bring excuses, victims bring negativity and they start to blame anything that is happening around them or is not going their way.

“You need people who fight, people who contribute and people who are ready to give everything to the club in this moment.”