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Mikel Arteta reacts on the touchline during the Premier League match between Arsenal and Everton at the Emirates Stadium(Image: Henry NICHOLLS / AFP via Getty Images)
Mikel Arteta claims he’s keeping a dossier on managerial rivals who are stepping out of their technical areas after both he and his Everton counterpart David Moyes were shown yellow cards in Arsenal’s 2-0 win at the Emirates Stadium.
The former Blues midfielder, who steered the Gunners to the Premier League title last season, reckons there are serial offenders elsewhere who are getting away with similar actions to the one he was punished for.
Arteta said: “You do have to be careful. Yeah, I’m going to put sensors there.
“There are managers in the league that have the record of 36 times in 10 minutes that they leave the touchline and no yellows. So, I’m clipping all of that.
“So I have a massive storage of images now. So, if somebody comes to it, I’m not in the record yet. Somebody else has a record. So, let’s see.
“When you have yellow cards in 10 minutes for the managers, where are we going to be? Let’s see.”
Although Arsenal won by the same scoreline as the corresponding fixture last season, in contrast to their previous meeting in north London on March 14, when Everton held out until the 89th minute, this time the Gunners were ahead just seven minutes into the contest.
Arteta revealed it was a deliberate ploy to try and start fast and said: “I think today, my fear was the longer the game went, I thought, if they stay in the game or score first, and it drags into 60-70 minutes, we have a problem.
“So, we talked about being very, very aggressive from the beginning, to go for it and try to impose ourselves from the beginning of the match.”
The 44-year-old added: “We’re very happy with the victory, with the performance, and with our week, because we were given a terrible schedule: Sunday afternoon, Wednesday night in Munich, coming here really late on Thursday and having to play again in the Premier League against a really top opponent on Saturday, 3pm.
“We have overcome every hurdle on top of some injuries and I love the mentality of the team and the quality that we showed today.”
Arsenal’s opening goal from a corner-kick was their first from a set-piece this term after netting a record 25 (excluding penalties) from dead-ball situations last season in the Premier League.
Arteta claims he was always convinced they’d get back on it and said: “I was sure that we were going to unlock something and that was the belief of the players. So, they are really convinced.
“I mean, we have to see them when we train, the level of attention and how much they believe in what we’re doing, what Nico [Jover, the set-piece coach] does as well. There’s no question about that.
“But then at the end, it has to come through and it has to make the difference and we know that that is a massive weapon for us.”