Arteta reveals ‘I doubted himself’ after Arsenal lost their opening three league games last season

Mikel Arteta has admitted he doubted himself after Arsenal lost their first three games last season.

The Spaniard will return to Brentford’s Gtech Community Stadium on Sunday with his squad high in the Premier League.

It’s far from 13 months since Arteta’s side were humiliated 2-0 by the Bees on opening day of last season – the start of three consecutive defeats to kick off the final campaign.

‘I doubted myself, I doubted myself’ he told Sky Sports. “This is part of a journey where – if you want to get better – you have to be self-critical.

“You have to have other people around you to tell you the truth and also have the humility to always be willing to get better, improve, and explore other opinions and ways of doing your job.”

Those critics were hard to handle. A wave of optimism last season turned into a ‘tsunami’ of criticism, a metaphor the Arsenal manager himself coined 12 months ago.

Arteta has admitted he doubted himself after Arsenal lost their first three games last season

“It was all building up,” Arteta recalls of the tidal wave of negativity. “The way everyone reacted after the first game of the season was great.

“But that tells you what the expectations are of the football club you are in, how much passion and love there is for this club and how quickly you can turn things around. You have to be prepared for that and be analytical about why things happen.’

So what did he learn? “One of the big lessons was: stay calm in the difficult moments, understand why things happen and move on.”