Arteta unveiled as Arsenal manager and feels 'back home'
SHOWS: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (DECEMBER 20, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)
1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARSENAL MANAGER, MIKEL ARTETA, ON HOW IT FEELS TO RETURN TO ARSENAL, SAYING:
"I feel back home. I'm extremely happy and proud to have been given the opportunity to be the manager of this football club. I've been preparing for a few years for this challenge to come. I know the expectations, I know the level and I know the stature of this club and what it deserves. So, I'm ready for that challenge and I can't wait to start working with the players and everybody here at the club but I've got a good vibe. I'm sensing a good energy today since I walk in at London Colney, so it's giving me a bit more energy and I feel so happy I can't say any other thing."
STORY: New Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said he feels "back home" and senses a "good energy" after being appointed head coach on a 3-1/2 year contract on Friday (December 20).
Arteta, who made 149 appearances for Arsenal between 2011 and 2016 before joining Manchester City's coaching staff as Pep Guardiola's assistant, replaces fellow Spaniard Unai Emery at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal are 10th in the Premier League table, seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, after five victories in 17 matches this season and travel to 16th-placed Everton for Saturday's (December 21) early kickoff.
Emery was sacked last month after Arsenal's 2-1 Europa League home defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt which extended their winless run in all competitions to seven games, their worst streak since February 1992 under George Graham.
Arteta, who has never managed a club before, was named by British media as one of the candidates in the running to replace former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger in 2018 before the club appointed Emery.
The 37-year-old has enjoyed great success at City, assisting Pep Guardiola as he guided the club to successive league titles.
