Arsenal players take matters into their own hands but Mikel Arteta 'didn't encourage it'

Mikel Arteta has praised his Arsenal players for using their initiative to watch their upcoming opponents Atletico Madrid play without even any encouragement from the manager.

An image of William Saliba posing for a photo on the Arsenal team bus after their 1-0 win over Fulham emerged over the weekend. Visible in the picture is a screen - showing the Spanish outfit's La Liga match against Osasuna - which they also won 1-0.

Arsenal host Atletico at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night in their third Champions League match of the league phase. The Gunners are one of six teams with a 100 per cent record in the competition so far.

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Asked about Saliba watching their next opponents play, Arteta said during his pre-match press conference: "I'm very pleased because I didn't encourage it, so it came from them. That's the most powerful thing - a game finishes, the job is done but now what's next, what's the next challenge, what's the next opportunity?

"We know that it's going to be a really tough one, so the earlier we start to think about it and prepare, the better. And so I love that initiative from the players, and it tells you how much they want it and how focused they are on what is next."

Arteta also acknowledged the lack of time they have to prepare for their opponents. "On this one, I think the hardest thing is the time that you have," he added. "It's basically a day when you can't really do much to prepare - so it's understanding the time that we have to spend to analyse and understand that.

"They have evolved as a team from where they were probably a year ago to now, and how they can change in relation to the context of the match, which is something very specific for this team.

"In order to prepare in the best way, you want to give [the players] everything, but also be able to simplify that information and make it as concrete and as clear as possible for us being in the best position to implement what we want to do tomorrow."

The Arsenal manager also expanded on why Diego Simeone teams are so difficult to play against. "First of all, the willingness to win," Arteta said. "You can sense that in every single ball, in every single yard, the way they play, so it's about how they compete and then after how they play.

"I think there are two very different things, and in order to have to analyse what they are, the level of organisation is really high, the level of discipline is really high and then they have acquired a lot of talent throughout the years that are very specific for the needs and the way they want to play and they are very, very good at exploiting those opportunities."