Timber: Premier League margins so thin Arsenal 'have no other choice'
Mikel Arteta spent his international break poring over footage of other Premier League teams after Arsenal suffered their first league defeat of the season at Brighton, and Jurrien Timber believes the manager's message about fine margins is already being proven right.
Arsenal have needed to grind through physical battles in recent weeks that supporters may not have expected after such a strong start to the campaign. They scraped past Sunderland and were made to work hard again at home to Daniel Farke's previously unbeaten Leeds United, eventually winning 2-1 thanks to a Riccardo Calafiori header and a late Bruno Guimaraes strike after coming off the bench.
The Friday Injury Tracker
Who's out, who's back and what it means for the next two games.
Arteta has admitted his side are walking a tightrope between playing like champions and slipping into average performances. Timber, speaking to football.london, echoed that sentiment and was quick to dismiss any suggestion that returning players or minds drifting toward the World Cup were behind the recent struggles against high intensity opponents.
'The line is very thin'
Timber was blunt about the standard required to compete at the top of the Premier League this season. He said: “The Premier League is tough. Every game is going to be tough. Every game is going to be different. Like Mikel says, the line is very thin, so if you want to win a game, you have to be at your best.”
He continued: “Otherwise, it's going to be very hard to win. And that's just the level at the moment. We have no other choice than to get to that level and be at our best every three or four days. And I think the team that's going to be consistently good in those kinds of margins is going to win this season.”
Timber's long road back
The Dutch defender's second half cameo against Leeds marked his first appearance at the Emirates since March, after injury kept him out of last season's title run in and cost him his place at the World Cup. He was candid about how difficult that period was to watch from the sidelines.
“Missing experiences like that, it's hard,” Timber said. “It makes you realise how lucky you are when you're able to play, when you're fit. It's hard when your team is battling for something so big and you couldn't help in the way you wanted to.”
He added that regaining his starting spot comes down to a simple formula. “You don't really need motivation. You just need to be at your best, and if you're not, you're not playing. It's that easy.”
Timber was happy to see his return take a back seat to Guimaraes' impact off the bench, praising the change in energy the Newcastle midfielder brought after replacing James Justin's opener had been cancelled out. Arsenal will look to carry that late resilience into their next run of fixtures as the demands of a long season continue to test the squad's depth.
