Unai Emery reveals Mikel Arteta ‘secret’ ahead of Aston Villa vs Arsenal clash

Unai Emery has revealed the ‘secret’ to Mikel Arteta’s success ahead of Aston Villa’s Premier League clash against Arsenal on Saturday.

The game at Villa Park sees Emery face his former club, with the 54-year-old in charge of the Gunners from 2018 to 2019 before Arteta came in.

Since Arteta replaced Emery at the Emirates, the north London side have won the FA Cup, two Community Shields and have came close to landing the top-flight title with runner-up finishes in the last three seasons.

This term, Arsenal are top of the Premier League table after 14 games, five points clear of second-placed Manchester City and six points clear of third-placed Villa.

Emery believes the ‘secret’ to Arteta’s success is the standards and values he’s set for his players off the pitch and Arsenal’s impressive recruitment.

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s fixture, Villa boss Emery said: ‘I think (Mikel) Arteta, he’s doing a really great job. I think you see, he’s incredible how he’s progressing, being demanding, the values he set there.

‘And he has set standards more and more and more, and you can watch, watching their matches, even in the emotion, when they are scoring goals, how they are showing their emotions, and how they are being demanding in everything.

‘I think this is the secret he can have there, how he’s setting those standards, and the players responding, of course, in the level they have, because they have very good players, and they are more and more and more progressively adding better players, and with the capacity they have economically to buy some players like they are doing.

‘And the test we have tomorrow is a huge test because I think he’s clearly the favourite this year, clearly the favourite. I think they are competing the best in all the teams in Premier League, the best, the best in competing, I think they are.

‘In everything – set pieces, tactically, offensively, defensively, get duels, they are very good in duels as well. Of course, they can have some injuries because they are playing in a very high intensity each match, and you are closer to getting injured when you are playing with this intensity.

‘And tomorrow is our test, and I am so, so motivated, so, so excited for us because we have now 27 points, and we are tomorrow in the day 15, and of course, two years ago, we performed fantastic, and we were at some points more than this year.

‘Last year, we were under in our expectation, and with the points, and this year after how we started, of course, I can feel now confidence, but this confidence I must set strongly every day, and tomorrow is the test, the biggest test we can have.

‘The players, they must show as well, they improve, their wishes, and of course, collectively, we must be in the commitment to follow the gameplan, to follow 90 minutes with the idea we are building and with the idea as well we want to get, imposing and dominating the match in everything we can tomorrow.’

Emery shares Premier League title race verdict

With Villa third in the Premier League table, just six points behind leaders Arsenal, Emery has also shared his thoughts on the 2025-26 title race.

‘The future is unpredictable,’ he added. ‘We must focus each match, and tomorrow. Of course, if we are winning, we can be more positive for the next matches, if we are not winning, we are not changing nothing.

‘But our race is each match, and it’s good sometimes to remind ourselves of our experiences before, and two months ago, we were in the bottom. Now, we are in the top. Maybe, in two months, we can again come back going down.

‘And this is football, and this is the Premier League, the most difficult. And it was so, so difficult to beat Brighton, it was so difficult to beat Wolverhampton. I can remind it for us and for you, and I was not feeling favourite against Wolverhampton, and I told you it, and tomorrow, I am not feeling favourite, but as well, I know we can win.’