Mikel Arteta is adamant Arsenal will not 'bottle' the final two matches of the season as they bid to keep their faint title hopes alive. The Gunners now know defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday night would confirm Manchester City as champions for the fifth time in six seasons.
Arsenal led the Premier League for the majority of the campaign but stumbled in recent weeks with a heavy defeat at the Etihad allowing Pep Guardiola's side to usurp them at the summit. The Gunners had hoped to take the title race to the wire, but suffered a shock home loss to Brighton in their last outing.
City will be crowned champions regardless if they beat Chelsea on Sunday, fresh from booking their place in the Champions League final with a thumping second-leg win over Real Madrid. However, events at the City Ground will still have a major impact at the other end of the table.
Forest sit three points clear of the drop zone, and victory over Arsenal would like guarantee their top-flight status. Leeds United will be hoping to close the gap on both Steve Cooper's side and Everton when they travel to West Ham the following day, and Whites' supporters will be heartened by Arteta's determination for his team to finish the season strongly.
He told Sky Sports News: "We have shown this season and we are still there with two games to go, we can still be champions against probably the best team in the history of the Premier League. We are still there with two games to go, and we're not going to bottle that, that's for sure.
"What happens next season depends a lot on what we do, how we evolve and how we start. But that prediction is very difficult to do today.
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