Arsenal must believe in Premier League glory, says Mikel Arteta
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Mikel Arteta has said that there is still a lot to come from his team as they take on the challenge of catching up to Manchester City.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
LONDON – Mikel Arteta has said that Arsenal must cling to the belief that they can pip Manchester City to the English Premier League title as he prepares his men to face faltering Manchester United on May 12.
The Gunners manager was speaking ahead of City’s clash at Fulham on May 11, when Pep Guardiola’s side won 4-0 comfortably and are now two points ahead with two games remaining.
Arsenal, who will play their penultimate match against United, have a terrible record at Old Trafford – they have won just once there in the league since 2006.
But they are facing a demoralised team who have lost their way under beleaguered boss Erik ten Hag.
Arteta said on May 10 that his players must keep their focus even though they are not in control of the title race.
“We have to think it is going to work and what’s going to work is that we try to be better than our opponents and beat them and the final outcome,” the Spaniard said.
“At the moment that is not in our control. We know the difficulty in our history when you look at what we’ve done over there (at Old Trafford), so we’re going to have to be at our best (in order to secure a victory).”
He warned that United remain dangerous despite winning just two of their past 10 league matches.
United forward Alejandro Garnacho thought he had won the reverse fixture at the Emirates Stadium in September, but his late goal was ruled out for offside and Arsenal scored twice in the final minutes to win 3-1.
“It was a difficult one and there were small margins because they had a huge moment when the goal was disallowed. That tells you the difficulty of facing them, their quality,” added Arteta.
While the Gunners are heavy favourites to win at Old Trafford, there are injury doubts about winger Bukayo Saka and defender Takehiro Tomiyasu, and the duo will face late fitness tests.
Arteta also shared his thoughts about Manchester City, where he had been an assistant manager under Guardiola from 2016 to 2019.
“They’ve been on an unbelievable journey in the last 10 or 15 years but we want to change that,” he said.
“We’re trying to do everything we can to improve and get better and better.
“You have to keep improving and try to be better than them when you face them head-to-head and in a long, long, long season with a lot of demands in this league.
“We have come far from where we were, that’s true, but there’s still a lot to come.”
Over in the United camp, ten Hag is confident that “common sense” will prevail as the club hierarchy considers his future following a disastrous season.
Manchester United have lost their way under beleaguered boss Erik ten Hag.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The injury-hit Red Devils suffered a club-record 13th defeat of a Premier League campaign on May 6, losing 4-0 at Crystal Palace.
They are languishing in eighth place in the table ahead of the clash against Arsenal, then have two further league games before attention turns to the FA Cup final.
The May 25 meeting with City offers the chance to end a poor season on a high, but FA Cup success was not enough to save compatriot Louis van Gaal’s job in 2016.
Asked if he was concerned that he could be sacked even before he makes the trip to Wembley, ten Hag said: “No, I think they have common sense.
“They see when you have 32 different backlines, when you lose eight centre-backs, if they see we use 13 partnerships at centre-halves.
“When they see we don’t have a left fullback, when we have so many injuries, they know that will have a negative impact on results.”
Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay and Bruno Fernandes have returned to training, but Mason Mount and Luke Shaw are dealing with setbacks. AFP, REUTERS
