Arteta Endorses Bournemouth: Arsenal Boss Picks Sides
In a Premier League fixture that could determine whether Arsenal win their first title since 2004.
Mikel Arteta has declared he'll be supporting Bournemouth on Tuesday night. Not in a Champions League final. Not in a cup semi. In a Premier League fixture that could determine whether Arsenal win their first title since 2004.
This is what desperation looks like when it wears a tracksuit.
The Spaniard needs Manchester City to drop points at the Vitality Stadium to keep Arsenal's title hopes mathematically alive. So he's gone public with his Cherries fandom for ninety minutes.
"The biggest ever!" Arteta said about potentially becoming a temporary Bournemouth supporter. The exclamation mark is doing heavy lifting there.
There's something beautifully undignified about watching a manager who built his reputation on control having to rely on Andoni Iraola's relegation-battlers to deliver his dreams.
Pep Guardiola, meanwhile, is probably having his morning coffee and wondering what all the fuss is about. City have won four of the last five titles by turning up when it mattered. Arsenal have won zero by hoping someone else wouldn't.
The psychology is fascinating. Arteta is asking his supporters to cheer for another team while his own players prepare for what might be their final meaningful match of the season. Nothing says "winning mentality" like outsourcing your title hopes to the seaside.
Bournemouth haven't beaten City since 1999. They've lost their last seven meetings by an aggregate score that resembles a cricket match. But hope, as they say, springs eternal.
Even when it springs from the Vitality Stadium on a Tuesday night in May.
The man who perfected possession football now needs charity from Bournemouth.
