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‘Nobody was giving Mikel Arteta any credit’ – West Ham boss David Moyes not shocked by Arsenal’s brilliant Premier League form
David Moyes believes Mikel Arteta has not been getting the credit he deserves at Arsenal since he joined the club.
Arteta has slowly been building a strong squad at the Gunners and they now sit top of the Premier League after nine games of the season.
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It was not so long ago that the Spaniard was seemingly under pressure.
Moyes, who managed Arteta at Everton, believes no one was giving Arsenal the respect they should have done and it has come as no shock they now sit atop the table.
When asked if he thought Arteta would go on to be a top manager, the West Ham manager told talkSPORT Breakfast: “It doesn’t surprise me. I used to listen to talkSPORT regularly and a lot of people on here were critical of Arsenal over the last few years.
“I think Arsenal have been a really good team for a while when nobody was giving them the respect.
“They’ve brought in [Martin] Odegaard who has made a real difference in the position he plays for them and makes it really difficult.
“I think Mikel had an idea of what he thinks it should look like. After working with Pep [Guardiola] for a few years and giving him that guidance on how to prepare a good team, it was just I felt that nobody was giving Mikel any credit whatsoever.
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“He’s a real diligent boy, young manager learning his way, he’ll make a few mistakes along the way, but I did and everybody does when you are in management in the early years.
“He isn’t half putting together a good side. Sometimes you need to have good fortune to have good young players at your club when you arrive in. And I think Arsenal have good young players in their system.”
Moyes himself has enjoyed much success at West Ham over the last couple of years, regularly challenging for the European places in the Premier League.
Last season they reached the Europa League semi-final before losing to Eintracht Frankfurt.
The club splashed out on £150million worth of transfers this summer, but started the season slowly while the boys got up to speed.
Now things are on the right track and they are looking up rather than down.
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Moyes added: “This year, we’ve actually got a stronger group of players. It has made our starting XI, whether that’s in Europe or the Premier League, stronger.
“As managers we ask for a bit of time for things to settle in. In general, over the last two and a half years we’ve made progress.
“From where we’ve started, at fourth or fifth bottom of the league trying to find our way out of relegation, to being fourth or fifth top of the Premier League last season for long periods. It takes some doing.
“It’s not just some doing in one year but it’s trying to do it regularly that’s the hard part.”
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