Danny Welbeck believes Arsenal must be ‘united’ after victory over AC Milan
Arsenal endeavoured tenaciously at the San Siro on Thursday evening to put AC Milan to the sword, a 2-0 first-leg victory over the Italian giants in the Europa League round of 16 which ended a torrid string of fixtures for the Gunners, and Danny Welbeck believes that he and his teammates must be ‘united’ in the face of adversity, as a disjointed squad breeds ‘weakness’ on the pitch.
A floundering 2-1 loss against Ostersunds FK at the Emirates sounded Arsenal’s dismal spell, and after two consecutive 3-0 defeats against Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final and the Premier League respectively, the north-Londoners were put to the sword at the Amex, where they limply lost 2-1 against a resilient Brighton & Hove Albion contingent.
Welbeck, 27, understands the values of a consolidated dressing room, and though there’s evidently a long way to go if they’re to return to the top of their eye-catching game once more, Arsenal must exhibit solidarity and a collective perseverance against Watford on Sunday.
Speaking to the club’s official website, Welbeck is adamant that there’s a sufficient amount of ‘professional’ quality within the squad which is capable of flipping the club’s recent turmoil fortunes on its head.
“We know we play for Arsenal Football Club,” He said. “The fans are hurting, everyone involved around the club is hurting and we feel their disappointment. That’s something we want to put right. It’s been a difficult period but it’s the sort of thing where we want to make things right with a positive result in the next match.“We’re professional footballers and we know what we’ve done to get to this stage. We know how we can get better, how we can improve on the negative results we’ve had recently.
“We want to improve but you do go home, look at yourself and say, ‘How can I put things right?’ I think the minimum requirement is to stand and fight in every single area of the pitch. We know that our quality will shine through in the end.
“It’s not just football, there’s good times and you get praised for them, and there’s bad times where you get negative criticism but you’ve got to take it. You’ve got to look at yourself and see how you can improve on these situations.
“I think you’ve got to be united in these situations. Unity is strength and division is weakness in this sort of period. If we stay together, stand up and fight, that’s what we need to do at the moment. As I said, we are really good players so the quality will shine through if we do what’s required of us.”
