Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta makes ‘demanding’ Man City admission

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has admitted the last title race has been demanding as he urged his players to be ready to seize on any slip-ups from Manchester City. The Gunners are just one point behind Pep Guardiola’s men at the top of the Premier League but may need a miracle to win the title given the Sky Blues have a game in hand.

Arsenal have led the Premier League for most of the season but have fallen from the summit at the worst possible time after picking up just three points in a miserable four-game run. City are now completely in the driving seat in the race for the title with the Gunners completely reliant on an unlikely slip up.

The Citizens will take to the field before the north Londoners this weekend with their match against Everton getting underway at 2pm on Sunday. Arsenal will be in action against Brighton later in the afternoon and Arteta has admitted his players will keep an eye on the result as they look to take advantage of any openings.

“For sure, before we go on the pitch we know the result and everybody will know it because it will spread out like this,” he said. “Will we be watching it? Probably not.

‌“We have to focus on our preparation and we’ve been doing that for the last ten or 15 games and nothing’s changed. You keep an eye on what’s happening, you have to have information but the demands we put on ourselves, we can only control the things that we can control.

“When you have to win, win and win, we’ve been like that for the past three months, it’s extremely demanding because of the position that we’re facing and obviously City have been playing a lot of games as well.

“But that’s what we’re here for. It starts on Sunday again. Three games to go. This is the crucial one. We want to elevate our hopes and our enthusiasm to keep going because there’s still everything to play for.”

Arsenal do have some hope. Everton are high on confidence following their shock 5-1 win over Brighton last week and have plenty to play for with Premier League survival on the line. City may be forced into making a number of changes too with their eyes on the Champions League semi-final with Real Madrid just 72 hours later.

However, the Gunners can only directly affect their own future and will be fully focused on beating Brighton to have any chance of lifting the title come the end of the season.