Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has urged his side to be wary of the threat Chelsea poses ahead of their London derby at the Emirates Stadium in the Premier League on Tuesday.
After defeating Wolves 2-0 over the weekend, the Gunners moved back atop the league standings, surpassing the reigning champions Manchester City.
They have a better goal differential than second-place Liverpool despite having identical totals of 74 points. With a game remaining, City is down by one point.
Despite losing to City in their FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea have won four of their last eight league games.
After losing to Aston Villa in the league and losing to Bayern Munich in the Champions League the previous week, Arteta stated that Saturday’s victory over Wolves was essential.
“We are in a great position in the Premier League,” the Spaniard told reporters on Monday.
“We’ve been like this for nine months, nine-and-a-half months, and we want really to give it a real go and be really determined to do what is in our hands to try to lift that trophy and tomorrow we are going to have a very tough opponent in front of us.”
During his own press conference, Pochettino announced that Cole Palmer, the team’s top scorer, would be evaluated after missing practice due to sickness.
The Argentinean, meanwhile, asserted that his team could triumph regardless of its talisman.
“The most important thing is the team and the collective,” he said. “He is an important part of the team and is doing fantastic for us, but we are Chelsea and we have plenty of players that can perform and do the job.”
Regardless of Palmer’s fitness, Arteta praised the team and “incredible manager” Pochettino, saying that ninth-place Chelsea would be a formidable foe.
“Whoever they put out there, when you look at the squad they have, the quality they have, it’s great,” he said.
“I think they are doing very, very well. I think they’re doing much better than people are talking.”
Arteta added: “They deserve to be in a much higher position in the league when you look at what they’ve done and what they’ve produced in games.
“They have reached a final (League Cup), they have reached a semi-final (FA Cup), they could have been through. I think what Mauricio is doing is really impressive and I’m sure he’s going to get them there.”
Even though the team has had a demanding season as they attempt to win their first Premier League championship in 20 years, Arteta noted his players are full of enthusiasm.
“When I saw them this morning I had to stop them because winning is a big boost of energy and after their performance against Wolves, winning and having to play a London derby tomorrow, everybody is ready for it.
“Something else is the amount and the volume of those games. It’s not the moment for us to look at that, we have to think in a positive way and feel and think that we are fresh to perform in the best possible way.”
Arteta was also questioned on his team’s winning record this season versus the other members of the so-called “Big Six,” who they have not dropped a single game against.
“Whether it’s psychology, whether it’s performance, whether it’s getting better as a team, obviously the more you win against big teams the more belief you have that you can do it consistently,” he said.
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