Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has claimed his players will not be watching their title rivals Manchester City play Everton on Sunday afternoon. The Cityzens play out their huge clash with the Toffees just before the Gunners are set to host Brighton at the Emirates Stadium.
The north London club are in need of a favour from a club or two heading into the final set of fixtures, with the title race currently in City's hands. They sit one point clear of Arsenal at this stage of the season, also holding one game in hand, giving them a clear advantage in the remaining weeks.
"That’s what we’re here for. It starts on Sunday again," Arteta said when asked if his side can challenge Pep Guardiola until the very end. "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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While the Gunners need to win their remaining three games, starting with the Seagulls, they need their rivals to drop points sooner rather than later. Everton could provide just that opportunity, having just been fresh off of a 5-1 thrashing of Brighton themselves and facing a City team that have focus firmly on the Champions League.
With the match taking place before Arsenal are set to kick off, it could be tempting for the squad to watch the game and follow along beforehand. However, Arteta has claimed they won't be doing that, saying in his pre-match press conference: "“For sure, before we go on the pitch we know the result and everybody will know it because it will spread out like this.
“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."
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