Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique had some interesting comments about Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side, saying they are one of the best teams in the world without the ball.
Before the Leicester City game, Arsenal had kept four clean sheets in their last seven games. The gunners held Premier League champions Manchester City to a draw and shut out Europa League holders Atalanta midweek.
Arsenal’s recent opponents have had negative comments about the team’s style of play. Atalanta coach Gian Piero Gasperini, said the Gunners did not come to play football after their 0-0 draw in Italy.
“I admire Arsenal a great deal and tonight they didn’t do a lot in attack, but confirmed they are solid and difficult to break down. We will emerge stronger from this game, we learned a lot,” continued Gasperini.
“We have recently had some good performances, but did not express ourselves the right way against Inter. At least tonight we learned something about how to play against opponents of this level.”
Luis Enrique praises Arsenal’s defensive structure
During the pre match press conference, Luis Enrique spoke in depth of how he admires Mikel Arteta as a coach. The Spaniard said he has been so impressed by Arsenal, and says they are one of the best teams in the world off the ball:
“He is one of the best coaches on the market at the moment. He changed Arsenal’s fortunes from a somewhat winless streak to one of the best teams in the world that is competing for titles.
“I would go as far as to say they are the best team in Europe playing without the ball. He is a great coach and a great person.”
Enrique played alongside Arteta at Barcelona, and the 54-year old says he is pleased with how his former teammate has progressed in his career:
“He [Arteta] was a very young player, but he was in the first-team squad,” Enrique said in his pre-match news conference.
“He has had a great start to his coaching career and it will be a great pleasure to chat to him tomorrow, even if it is just for five minutes before the start of the game.”
Arsenal are one of the best attacks in the league
The Gunners have scored 12 goals and created 23 big chances, which ranks them top five in the league. Arsenal are also one of the best defensive units in England, with just five goals conceded.
Luis Enrique seems like he only made the comment to hint that Arsenal do not have enough attacking power to triumph in Tuesday night’s Champions League clash.
