Mikel Arteta just admitted something about pressure most managers wouldn't say out loud
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he would rather be the hunted than the hunter in a title race in the Premier League.
Arteta had his first press conference of the Premier League campaign and he talked about a lot of things, one of which was the pressure that Arsenal will have now that they are no longer hunting Manchester City down.
They are the reigning champions of the Premier League, and with that comes the pressure of every other team wanting to beat them so that they can take the title instead.
Arteta said that he prefers that over being a tamed lion who is hunting another.
Mikel Arteta just admitted something about pressure most managers wouldn't say out loud
He said: "We start from scratch, from zero tomorrow, and we're going to have to prove we have the level to go back to that position again.
"But I think that happened in the last three seasons: at some point we were first, some of the time we were chasing it, and you never know what is better. You give me the choice, I want to be first, I want to be hunted, and I want to be in control of our future rather than depend on somebody else.
There is a decent argument there about being the hunted. That means you are the best team in the league and everyone wants to beat you. That only gives you that much more confidence about your abilities as an individual and a group.
Being hunted means that everyone realizes how much better you are than all the 19 teams, and that's exactly why Arteta wants to be hunted over being the hunter at any point.
Being hunted every single time would also mean Arsenal win the Premier League every single season, which might also be another reason.
However,there is an argument to be made about there being less pressure on the chasers, depending on the context, of course.
With Arsenal, there was a lot of pressure on them because everyone was waiting for them to win the league for over 20 years.
However, if they ever became the hunters at another point in the next few years, the pressure wouldn't be as big as what they had last season.
It is the same case with some of the other teams in the Premier League. They don't really have a lot to lose anymore. They can just win their games and hope that Arsenal don't.
However, I think every single Arsenal fan and player, coach and everyone else linked with the club would want to be 'hunted', in the sense that they are always in control of their Premier League chances.
There is a certain pressure about it, but Arteta has never been prone to any of that, and he certainly won't be after already winning the league last season.
