Mikel Arteta admits his Arsenal side probably won't watch Manchester City's trip to Everton on Sunday as he aims to keep focus on his own side's results.
The Gunners face Brighton on Sunday afternoon and could kick off with a four-point gap to make up on City, who travel to Goodison Park earlier in the day. Arteta's side became the chasers after three consecutive draws preceded their 4-1 defeat at the Etihad last month, but have kept the pressure on the Blues with wins over Chelsea and Newcastle.
With so little room for error from either side, Arsenal would be forgiven for having City's game on in the background and hoping for a slip-up. But Arteta has urged his players to focus only on finishing their campaign as strongly as possible and pushing Pep Guardiola's side to the final day.
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“For sure, before we go on the pitch we know the result and everybody will know it because it will spread out like this,” Arteta admitted. “Will we be watching it? Probably not.
“We have to focus on our preparation and we’ve been doing that for the last 10 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.”
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