Despite their lead at the top of the Premier League table being cut down, Arteta still remains confident of winning the league crown.
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Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League table no longer looks safe following their recent run of results. The Gunners have been sitting at the summit for a long time in the current campaign, however, a few draws in the recent games have helped Manchester City cut their lead at the top of the table. With both heavyweights set to face each other on Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium, the winners of that clash will undoubtedly hold the edge for the Premier League top spot.
Ahead of the blockbuster game against Manchester City on Wednesday, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta spoke on plenty of topics, including that of the squad update. Speaking about William Saliba’s fitness situation, Arteta, quoted by Arsenal.com, said, “There’s not been a real improvement, unfortunately for him. So, we are still waiting. We are still hopeful but obviously, it’s another week that has gone by and he hasn’t been able to train with the team.”
In their last match against Southampton at home, Arsenal were expected to get the maximum points. However, the Gunners fell behind in the game and had to mount a comeback to register a thrilling 3-3 draw. Asked about the mistakes from that draw, Arteta said, “Human errors. Players make a lot of brilliant decisions, and they make mistakes. The areas where you don’t make mistakes probably define the extent or the consequences of the mistakes, and obviously, where we made those mistakes, we were punished heavily. But looking back at the last two games, taking that apart – we deserve to win both games, without a question of a doubt.”
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Despite their lead at the top of the Premier League table being cut down, Arteta still remains confident of winning the league crown. Asked whether the Gunners still believe that they can win the title, the manager replied, “One hundred per cent. But we knew from the beginning that City was the team to beat, probably with Liverpool, because of what those teams have done in the last six or seven years, they’ve fully deserved that credit and to be at the top.”
“We were the ones that wanted to be closing that gap as much as we possibly could, and we are toe-to-toe with them. We knew we had to go to the Etihad, we know that after that they are going to have another five very difficult games. That game is going to be really important – if it’s going to define the season, the answer is no.”
The Arsenal manager was then asked whether they have to focus more on beating City’s game or playing their own game. Arteta replied, “We have to focus a lot on ourselves, but we still need to understand what they can do. We have to be prepared for those changes, which is a lot because of what they can do in the beginning, they can do that in 20 minutes, at half-time, and in the last 20 minutes. You have to be really prepared for that. But this cannot absorb your energy to be constantly adapting to what they do and we have to focus on our strengths in how we can cause them problems.”
