Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta is more interested in playing mind games with his players than Tottenham boss Antonio Conte and other rival coaches.
Arsenal and Tottenham are both vying to qualify for the Champions League this season and they are neck and neck in the race to finish fourth in the Premier League.
Conte has already put the pressure on Arsenal by saying they are favourites to win the race, but Arteta isn’t fazed by such talk.
“I don’t know [if we are favourites],” said Arteta. “That is a question for [Conte]. But what we want to do is very clear and the perception of what people think is not going to change it.”
Asked if he was a manager who wants to engage in mind games, Arteta replied: “I do it more with my players, I think.
“I do it more with the players, if I have to, to get what I want from them. No [I can’t tell you how I do it], because they will know what they are doing and that is the whole point!”
Arsenal have been in good form since the start of February and have overcome the majority of their hurdles so far.
One of those has been coping without goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, who missed the win against Aston Villa last month and is expected to miss Monday’s game at Crystal Palace.
Ramsdale has a hip injury and Bernd Leno, who has fallen down the pecking order this season, is due to start at Selhurst Park. Arteta has praised the German for how he reacted to losing his place and admits it isn’t easy for a player to be in that position.
“I have a lot of sympathy with every player that doesn’t play and doesn’t get the chances they probably deserve, but unfortunately that’s the game,” said Arteta.
“[Leno] has been consistent in the way he trained, the way he behaved, in those months, waiting for the opportunity and, when he had it, to take it.
“From my side it was very clear and I was very honest from the first day. Because I never said [to Ramsdale and Leno]: ‘You’re going to be one and two’. Never.
“There is not a personal thing in that decision at all and it cannot be taken personally.
“I can give you hundreds of examples [of a senior player having a reduced role]. When you start to get to 30, 31 and 32 it’s going to happen, I guarantee it’s going to happen at some stage in your career.
“But if it is that late I think it’s a good sign, that means you’ve been pretty consistent because it can happen much earlier.
“Personally, another factor is environment because it’s not only the player – it is his family, his father, his nan, his agent, everyone saying: ‘Why aren’t you playing? I don’t agree’.
“It’s normal because they all want the best for that player. But we want the best, so if we make a decision to play somebody else it’s because we believe in that moment it’s better for the team to play somebody else. That’s it.”
