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LONDON. — Mikel Arteta has brushed aside Pep Guardiola’s title mind games and insists Arsenal are just focusing on taking each day as they come, while he was delighted to see Gabriel Jesus return.
The Gunners put Fulham to the sword on Sunday in a ruthless first-half display at Craven Cottage, with Leandro Trossard setting up each of Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard en route to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
A day earlier, Manchester City scrapped past Crystal Palace thanks to a solitary penalty from Erling Haaland and afterwards Guardiola claimed Arsenal were still big favourites for the title in part due to how hungry they are to end their long English Premier League drought.
Arteta has constantly played down the title talk and is still just focused on taking each training session and match on a day-by-day and game-by-game basis.
Asked about Guardiola’s comments at his post-match press conference — and whether it is a positive or a negative that City are putting pressure on Arsenal — Arteta responded: ”I don’t know.
”We just discuss what we discuss internally: to be really humble, to work on the next training session and try to be better every day.
”This is our focus. There is still a huge part of the season to be completed.”
On Arsenal fans chanting about winning the league, Arteta continued: ”I would be singing with them to support the team, that’s for sure! They’ve been exceptional.
”The amount of people we had coming here, their attitude, their passion, the energy that they’re putting in is incredible. And we’re going to need that and that’s a game-changer for us, so thank you!”
Reflecting on the win over Fulham, he added: ”Really happy. Really tough place to come and a really well organised team.
”I think we dominated the game, we created so many chances, we kept a clean sheet — which was really important — and we won the game in a convincing way, so really happy.”
Arteta also saluted Leandro Trossard’s “football intelligence” after he claimed a hat-trick of assists in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Fulham and said Gabriel Jesus must earn his starting spot following his long-awaited return from injury.
Trossard produced a player-of-the-match performance at Craven Cottage, setting up Gabriel Magalhaes, Gabriel Martinelli and Martin Odegaard’s goals as Arsenal re-established a five-point lead at the top of the English Premier League table. — Metro/The Sun
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