Hector Bellerin identifies key weakness that Arsenal must improve before the end of the season

Hector Bellerin

Hector Bellerin says Arsenal must become more efficient in front of goal after they return from their winter break.

The Gunners are currently on a warm-weather training trip to Dubai ahead of Sunday's clash with Newcastle.

Mikel Arteta's side have lost only one of their last eight games in the Premier League, but six of those matches ended in a draw.

Bellerin admits Arsenal must become more clinical if they want to close the 10-point gap currently separating them from fourth-placed Chelsea.

But the right-back also believes the club are moving in the right direction with Arteta at the helm.

"Mikel has always been very tactical in his work and in his whole life, he’s very professional with very clear ideas," the Spaniard told Arsenal's official website.

"It’s very early doors in time. [Mikel] has a new philosophy and the way he has implemented it in the last few games that we’ve played, there’s been a big change.

"I think sometimes we need to be a bit more efficient in front of goal [but] that’s also something that comes with confidence, when you see that you’re playing better and controlling games better, the goals are something that’s going to come. I’m sure you’re going to see that very quickly. 

"For us, the promise is that we’re trying to get better every single day. When a different coach comes, there are different things that you’re being asked to do.

"The most important thing is to get things right and I think with the coaching that we’re getting and the tactical advice, if we do the things that they’re asking us to do we’re going to be successful."

After Sunday's meeting with Newcastle, Arsenal take on Olympiacos in the first leg of their last-32 Europa League tie.

And the Gunners have been drawn against Portsmouth in the fifth round of the FA Cup, a competition they have won a record 13 times.

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Greg Lea

Greg Lea is a freelance football journalist who's filled in wherever FourFourTwo needs him since 2014. He became a Crystal Palace fan after watching a 1-0 loss to Port Vale in 1998, and once got on the scoresheet in a primary school game against Wilfried Zaha's Whitehorse Manor (an own goal in an 8-0 defeat).