Since leaving Everton to join Arsenal during the summer of 2011 the 32-year-old Spaniard has admitted that he has not enjoyed his football as much as he should have due to the pressure he puts on himself.
Currently Arsenal are one point above Everton in the race for 4th place and Champions League football next season and know that if they win their remaining four games they will be safe.
Yet despite the clubs success in making it to the FA Cup final Arteta told the clubs official magazine that he has a hard time enjoying the clubs achievements: “That I achieved what I wanted to achieve but with one particular regret — that I haven’t enjoyed it as much as I should have done.
“And that’s because I always put too much pressure on myself, trying to improve things that are not going well, not just in my own game but other things around the players or the club.
I find it difficult to say ‘I love it’ because I’m constantly putting myself under pressure, there’s always a next target or a ‘we won but we didn’t do a certain thing well’ nagging away at you. And it’s always like that.
“The fight to switch off gets harder and harder. I just can’t do it.
“I have long discussions with my wife every time we have a bad result and I constantly think about what we can improve, what we did wrong, what happened in the game.”
