Mikel Arteta had no say in Arsenal decision to feature in Amazon documentary

Mikel Arteta has revealed he was not given a choice about Arsenal’s decision to take part in a behind-the-scenes documentary but hopes it will be a “perfect year” to let the cameras into the club.

Arsenal will become the latest club to feature in Amazon Prime’s ‘All or Nothing’ series, with fly-on-the-wall access to the goings on over the course of the 2021-22 season – which kicks off for the Gunners with a trip to Premier League new boys Brentford on Friday night.

Arteta was part of the Manchester City series when working as Pep Guardiola’s assistant, while Tottenham’s series from the 2019-20 season covered the sacking of Mauricio Pochettino, arrival of Jose Mourinho and the reaction to the coronavirus pandemic.

Asked if he had any involvement in Arsenal’s decision to follow suit, Arteta replied: “No. It’s a decision made by the club, in the best possible interests of the football club. We need to help as much as possible.

“I experienced that a few years ago when I was at Man City. We are going to help as much as possible, for everybody to see what this club means and how things are done at the football club, be as transparent as we can to show the values, integrity, passions and where we are trying to drive this football club.

“Hopefully it is a perfect year to show that. We need to make it happen. It is down to us to try to produce the best piece that we can, so everybody can feel part of what we do and our fans can be proud of what we do.”

Fan inclusion for Arteta goes beyond them being given access to the inner sanctum of the Emirates Stadium.

The Spaniard has called on supporters, returning en masse for the first time this season since the Covid-19 outbreak, to help level the playing field between Arsenal and those teams who have finished above them of late.

“I’m very optimistic with the fans because I saw how they were with the team when we played Chelsea (in pre-season) and I was very impressed with that,” he added.

“Not only me but the players and the staff because we had 20,000 or 25,000 and they were right behind the team. I don’t expect anything different.

“We have tried to explain everything that we could, get them on board, get belief in the team and the team has to give them enough arguments to support us and get behind the team.

“Hopefully we are able to do that because with them we will be much stronger because we don’t have the capacity in other areas to compete with other teams.

“Certainly we have a big advantage with our club with the fans that we have. I’m sorry but we can’t miss that one because it’s too big a piece of the cake and that is relevant.”