Mikel Arteta has challenged Arsenal to play with “pure fire” as they look to bounce back from a string of damaging defeats in Wednesday’s Champions League match against Sporting Lisbon.
Arteta’s side can reach the semi-finals of the competition for the second consecutive season if they see off Sporting at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners go into the second leg of the quarter-final with a 1-0 lead after last week’s match in Lisbon.
But that narrow success was Arsenal’s only win in their last four games, with three defeats prompting claims that Arteta and his team are suffocating as the pressure mounts at the business end of the season.
«There is no fear. Pure fire. That’s it. Me, the first. Pure fire. That’s what I want to see in the players, in the people, in myself,» he emphasized at his pre-match press conference.
READ | Rice will miss training due to injury concerns at Arsenal ahead of the match against Sporting
«Fire! I’m on fire. I’m on fire. That’s it. Nothing else. I dream so much. I’ve done so much to be in this position because I know what this club was like. I’ve done so much and this is beauty.»
Losing the League Cup final against Manchester City and the FA Cup quarter-final against second division Southampton was bad enough.
But a shock 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday left Arteta facing pointed questions about Arsenal’s character.
Arsenal are just six points clear of second-placed City, who have a game in hand and host the Gunners in a seismic showdown on Sunday.
The north Londoners have finished second in the Premier League for the past three seasons and twice took substantial leads against City in 2023 and 2024.
They have also failed to win a trophy since the 2020 FA Cup, which remains the only silverware Arteta has won in more than six years in charge.
There is a growing sense of deja vu among a nervous Arsenal fanbase, but Arteta launched a passionate defense of his side.
«We are in April, we have an incredible opportunity in front of us. Let’s face it, let’s go for it by really putting everything into it,» the Spaniard added.
«I want to get it done for all these people who have been on this journey with us. And because they deserve it, because it’s been incredible. That’s what drives me every day. I have no fear whatsoever.»
‘Do something incredible’
Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004 and have never won the Champions League.
If it reaches the Champions League for the last four times this season, it would be the first time in two consecutive seasons that it has reached the semi-finals of the competition.
Arteta, whose side lost to Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals last year, acknowledged the magnitude of the task facing Arsenal as they attempt to complete a Premier League and Champions League double.
“What we are trying to achieve is difficult, challenging and bumpy, and it should be that way,” he said.
“I said to the players, ‘Guys, we’re trying to do something that hasn’t been done in the club’s history for 140 years. So that shows how difficult what you’re doing is.’
«We have the chance to go to the semi-finals tomorrow. We are fighting to win the Premier League and we are in a very strong position.»
“So the team is doing something incredible because it’s never been done before.”
Published on April 14, 2026
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/Phoebe-Tesoriere-Rare-Genetic-Disorder-041626-12535279bde84e388cc245a2e11ac328.jpg?w=238&resize=238,178&ssl=1 "Una mujer de 23 años se autodiagnosticó su rara enfermedad genética utilizando ChatGPT después de años de haber sido diagnosticada erróneamente por los médicos.")
