“I have very wild dreams!” – Mikel Arteta opens up on ‘love’ for Arsenal star amid impressive form
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was one of the fans as he was left stunned with Leandro Trossard's performance. The Belgian bagged an assist during his team's 4-1 home win against Leeds United.
Since joining the Gunners in the summer, Trossard has now provided seven assists for Mikel Arteta's team. Speaking about Trossard's performance, Arteta told the media (via football.london):
"I have very wild dreams! No seriously, we knew about his quality and what he could bring to the team. He can play right, left, he can play as a midfielder, he can be a false nine. He’s really contributing to the team. He’s taking responsibility to make that happen and we love him."
Since his January move from Brighton & Hove Albion, Trossard has been more than value for money. His versatility, coupled with tremendous technicality, has left everyone impressed.
Arsenal, meanwhile, provided the perfect response to Manchester City's 4-1 win over Liverpool earlier in the day. Mikel Arteta's team regained their eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League table with the win against Leeds.
The Gunners have 72 points from 29 games while City are at 64 points from one game less.
Mikel Arteta revealed the message he gave Arsenal players at half-time
Arsenal were up by only a goal heading into the half-time break. The Gunners, however, were thoroughly impressive in the second half.
After the match, Arteta was asked about the talk that he gave his players during the mid-game break. The Spanish manager said (via the Gunners' official website):
"Well, the first thing is that we had to improve. Obviously, the way that they set up, they were really man-marking our attacking midfielders and they played with four really fast players to cut us in transition."
He added:
"We started to lose the ball in areas that we cannot do against a team that wants to defend that way. We improved that a lot, we exploited all of the spaces and we changed a little bit the shape and position of a few players, and we were more fluid attacking in the final third very close to the box with good numbers and good positions. We looked a threat."
The Gunners will return to action on 9 April as they take on Liverpool in a Premier League away clash.