Arsenal’s Arteta keen to drive home ideas in Dubai camp

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said he is still far from bedding in his attacking philosophy at the club but is hopeful that a training camp in Dubai can help the players recharge their batteries and soak in his ideas.

Arsenal were held 0-0 at Burnley on Sunday for their fourth straight Premier League draw, leaving Arteta with only one win from his first seven league matches in charge since replacing Unai Emery in December.

They have scored only eight goals in those games.

“We have to improve quality-wise. We’re very far in terms of what I want in sustaining attacks and being unpredictable in our play, but that’s a process,” Arteta told Sky Sports.

“In the next two weeks, we have longer periods for training and I’ll use them. We need some players back from injury and try our best to improve the team.”

Arsenal, who are 10th with 31 points from 25 matches, return to league action against Newcastle United on Feb. 16.

“It’s good to go away ... the players have been through a lot,” Arteta told Arsenal’s website.

“The last two-three months have been tough for them so I want to give them a few days off. Then we’re going to go to Dubai, start working and focus on Newcastle.”

“Dubai is a fantastic place and the football facilities there are first class. It will do us good to experience a change of environment before we enter a crucial part of the season,” he added.

Emirates Airline, whose partnership with the club is one of the most recognisable and long-standing in sport, will be flying the team to Dubai.

Meanwhile, Arteta blamed the Turf Moor pitch as Arsenal lost more ground in the race to finish in the Premier League’s top four.

Arteta’s side are trailing 10 points behind fourth placed Chelsea and look certain to fall well short of the Champions League places.

It was another frustrating afternoon for Arteta, who saw his team squander several chances to take the lead in a match they could easily have lost with better finishing from Burnley.

Arteta claimed the long grass and a dry pitch had played a crucial role in preventing Arsenal playing their normal passing game.

Indicating a couple of inches, Arteta insisted: “The conditions were difficult. The grass was this long and they didn’t put any water on it, and that’s not a very helpful thing to play football.

“I didn’t water the pitch yesterday at the training ground because I expected it, but that doesn’t make it any easier to play.

“They do what they do really well and you are allowed to do it so we have to react to that.”

Arsenal have now drawn five consecutive away league matches for the first time since August 1948 and actually sit closer to the relegation zone — seven points away — than the top four.

“I was very disappointed with the way we started the second half. For the first 20 minutes we couldn’t control any aspect of the game, and we were lucky not to concede a goal,” Arteta said.

“We need more consistency. We were fantastic in some moments but we were so sloppy and we put ourselves in big trouble with a lot of unnecessary situations.”

New signings Cedric Soares and Pablo Mari were missing from the Arsenal squad due to fitness concerns.

But Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang returned after serving a suspension for his red card at Crystal Palace.

Mesut Ozil and Aubameyang combined to carve open the Burnley defence in the opening moments, but Alexandre Lacazette headed wide from the Gabon striker’s cross.

Arteta had his players run into boxing bags at the club’s training ground this week in an unusual attempt to prepare for the physical test posed by Burnley.

Agencies