Arsenal FC Rumors: Arteta Keeping The Faith, Expanding Patience With Willian

Willian Borges da Silva knew that expectations were high when he moved to Emirates Stadium. However, things have not gone well for the Brazilian, who has struggled with Arsenal FC thus far. Despite the slump, Mikel Arteta has kept his faith in the 32-year-old winger and is seeing progress.

Willian started his stint with his new club on a high note. He had two assists when the Gunners won over Fulham, 3-0, when the Premier League opened. Unfortunately, the Brazilian has been on a drought in their last eight games and has yet to get his first goal with the Gunners.

This has led most to question his spot in the first-team. There are other players like Nicolas Pepe who have performed better. In fact, the 25-year-old already has three goals to his credit this season.

Regardless, Arteta is keeping the faith and said that most have yet to see what Willian truly brings to the team, Goal reported.

“I think he started really well with his first game against Fulham, then he had an injury and he didn’t have any time to train, he didn’t have any pre-season and he was later than the others,” Arteta explained.

“I can see a development in the last two games and the understanding of things that we do but he’s not used to. He’s getting better and better and we all know the quality that he has and he’s a great option to have on the pitch," he added.

Willian will be a player in focus once more when the Gunners face Aston Villa this Sunday. Arsenal will try to make it back-to-back wins after defeating Manchester United last week, BBC reported.

Arsenal is currently ninth on the table and is level on points with Villa. However, they are a place behind them on goal difference. The Gunners have scored only seven goals this season, and Arteta is aware they need to do better.

“In the last few weeks’ve found teams with lower blocks. We’ve trained to be ready against that, we’ve experienced that throughout the games and [against Molde] you could see a big improvement,” Arteta said. “That’s probably the final bit that we need to improve upon as a team because there’s many areas where we’ve improved on a lot.”