Mikel Arteta issued a rallying cry to Arsenal fans as his team close in on a first Premier League title since 2004, urging supporters to greet the team coach and unleash another Emirates eruption tonight.
Thousands of fans are expected to line the streets around the stadium after fan group REDaction Gooners, in consultation with the club, organised an event to greet the team bus ahead of Arsenal’s final home game against Burnley.
Supporters created incredible scenes by doing similar ahead of this month’s Champions League semi-final win over Atletico Madrid, with Arteta admitting the deafening atmosphere created by fans with flares, flags and relentless chanting ‘took the club to a different level’.
Now, he wants to recreate that feeling before every home game.
‘I loved it, I think all the players loved it,’ he said. ‘I think it builds an energy connection with them that we haven’t experienced before.
‘The whole preparation and the whole atmosphere showed that the level of meaning was higher and the level of implication and desire and passion from our supporters was different as well. It really helps.
Supporters created incredible scenes by greeting the team bus ahead of this month’s Champions League semi-final win over Atletico Madrid
Mikel Arteta admits the deafening atmosphere created by fans with flares, flags and relentless chanting ‘took the club to a different level’
Arteta’s side are two points clear at the top of the Premier League table with two games remaining
‘I could see straight away all the staff and everybody was there just looking at each other and saying, “Wow, we’ve taken this now to a different level.” Just looking, the engagement, the passion, the enthusiasm of our fans in their eyes, I think that was something special.
When asked if he wants the coach to greet fans early before every home game, Arteta said: ‘I would love to but sometimes the infrastructure does not allow you to do certain things.
‘But with what we have if we can optimise that in benefit of performance and generating that atmosphere I think we have to try to do it. We are step by step trying to get there.’
On his role in transforming the Emirates matchday experience, he added: ‘It was the first thing because a few days before I was appointed here I was on the other bench with Man City and that image, that feeling of the stadium, the crowd… 50 per cent of the stadium was empty.
‘It really got into me. I said, “With this, there is no project, there is anything that we’re not going to do. This is not going to work”.
‘Unfortunately it got worse very quickly because then Covid hit and then instead of 50 per cent we have zero. So you make the job even harder.
‘So after that we had to rebuild everything. But when it’s harder at the beginning, then it’s better. So to see that transformation and that joy on the people, it’s something that is beautiful to watch.’
