Arteta's Euro PLedge
Mikel
By The Nark End
February 16 2010
Ahead of the first leg of the Sporting Lisbon test, Mikel Arteta has declared that the current Everton squad is the best since he joined the Club five years ago.
The Spaniard is looking forward to his long awaited return to European action and insists the Blues must compete in the Europe every season.
"This is the only way we've got to win silverware this year. In the last few years we've had good chances but we've been knocked out for different reasons," Arteta told evertonTV.
"Now we're expecting a tough game because Sporting Lisbon have been playing in the Champions League for a few years and they have good players. It is not going to be easy. There are big teams in Europe but I think we can compete with any of them at the moment.
"If we can get all the players back on the pitch I think we've got the best team since I've been here."
After eleven months out with a knee injury, Arteta has returned just as fellow midfielder Marouane Fellaini is forced onto the sidelines with an ankle problem.
David Moyes is still waiting to find out the severity of the Belgian's injury but the Spanish star says the strong squad can cope without him.
"We have beaten Chelsea without Fellaini and Pienaar so that says a lot about the strength and the character of the team,” continued Arteta.
"We had a really tough time at the start of the season but we've reacted and we're in a good position now to see if we can do something between now and the end of season.
"We have to try to be in this competition every year. Two months ago probably nobody was expecting us to be talking about it but with the run we've had in the last few weeks we can think and I know if we go on a terrific run we can be close.
"But it will need to be a terrific run. That's what we have to try to do. We worked really hard last year to get fifth spot so we could play in this competition so it's important to us."
Fans heading to tonight's Europa League game are reminded to allow extra travel time due to the 5:45pm kick-off time.
If you can't make it to the game listen to full match commentary on evertonTV - click here.