London, April 4 (IANS) Goodison Park is a ground that holds plenty of fond memories for Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta, who spent six years with Everton between 2005 and 2011 during his playing days.
During that period, David Moyes’ Toffees finished as high as fourth in the Premier League, reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, and made it to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
On Saturday, the former Toffees club captain visits the 132-year-old stadium one last time, before Everton move to Bramley-Moore Dock next term.
“It will be very special. There’s a lot of history as well between the clubs and I have my own personal story which was a beautiful one, with the manager that has just come back now and he’s doing extremely well.
“I’m so happy for the club and for David because it’s never easy to come back there for the second time. In my opinion, he was the person who lifted that club to a different level and now he’s on the journey to do it again once they move to a new stadium, so I think it’s a really nice story,” said Arteta in his pre-match conference.
Everton were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool in the Merseyside derby at Anfield on Wednesday, but have generally become harder to beat since Moyes returned to the helm. Arteta feels the Gunners will impose ourselves on the game to combat the approach the Toffees take on Saturday.
“Exactly, I think that’s the word because they want to play a very different game from ours. That’s the challenge every time in the Premier League, how you take the game where you want and how you make that happen as often as you possibly can. Then it will be decided in the boxes, where you have to be really strong,” he said.
When asked if the Champions League quarter-final first leg at home to Real Madrid on the horizon has any impact on the weekend’s encounter, Arteta said there’s no room for complacency by having focus elsewhere.
“No, that’s wrong. The biggest game for us is Everton, and the best way to prepare for Real Madrid is to do what we have to do to beat Everton.
“Because this is football, it’s an emotional game and you have to continuously do what you have to do, and you cannot be thinking ahead – the competition, the level, how the teams are prepared, is too big to think that way. You cannot allow yourself to think that way,” he added.
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