West Ham boss David Moyes puzzled over Mikel Arteta criticism

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West Ham boss David Moyes admits he is perplexed by some of the criticism Mikel Arteta has endured during his two years at the helm of Arsenal.

Arteta, who played under Moyes at Everton, won the FA Cup and Community Shield a few months after taking the reins at Emirates Stadium, but presided over a disappointing eighth place last season.

They were at their lowest in the Premier League after three games this quarter before a fortuitous pick-up that put them two points behind West Ham in fourth ahead of their clash in north London on Wednesday night.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been dismissed as Arsenal captain (Mike Egerton / PA)

Arteta is back under the microscope after his decision to remove Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Arsenal captaincy, but although Moyes is not drawn to the news, the Scotsman is in disbelief at some of the barracks his former midfielder is facing. of land had to face.

Moyes said: “It was amazing, Mikel won a few trophies. I thought he started his career really well with an FA Cup and a Charity Shield, it’s not a bad start for your managerial career.

“He has to readjust, change things, get what he wants and he’s in that process. He has a good team at the moment, they have bought some good young players.

“I didn’t quite agree with a lot of the criticisms about Arsenal.”

Moyes, who will celebrate his 600th Premier League game as a coach on Wednesday, enabled West Ham to advance to the Champions League after 16 appearances, proving that a sixth place finish in the 2020-21 campaign was not no coincidence.

West Ham manager David Moyes will lead his 600th Premier League game on Wednesday (Adam Davy / PA)

While Moyes is wary of teams below him, he is adamant his aim is to catch the runaway top three of third-place Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, eight points behind the Hammers.

Moyes said: “We have been in a strong position, we will try to stay there as long as possible.

“We hope to try to reach third place if we can, we don’t look back, we try to see if we can catch up with the teams above us, but obviously we are well aware of the strengths of the teams below us. .

“We are in an excellent position. We are entering this game before Arsenal, we finished last season above Arsenal which was a great achievement for us and we want to try to do it again.

Aaron Cresswell, right, could be back for West Ham in north London (Zac Goodwin / PA)

However, Moyes, who is hoping left-back Aaron Cresswell could be in contention again following a lower back injury, knows his West Ham side have a huge chest target for the rest of the season. season.

But an optimistic Moyes, whose side drew in a goalless draw at Burnley on Sunday after wins against Liverpool and Chelsea in recent weeks, added: “I say ‘bring it’.

“We’re going to sit there, tighten our chest and we’re going to take it and see how we do.” We have no reason to distance ourselves from the other teams, we feel like we can play against them.

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