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LONDON. — Arsenal have the squad depth that can help the team be more unpredictable, manager Mikel Arteta said, as the north London club look to open up a five-point lead at the top of the English Premier League football table when they host Everton tonight.
The match kicks-off at 9:45pm.
Arsenal lead the league standings with 57 points after 24 matches, two points above second-placed Manchester City who have played a game more.
“The fact we have options right now, that we have players coming back from injury is going to be crucial because players cannot maintain the same level for 10 months, it is just impossible,” Arteta told reporters yesterday.
“We need to change and be more unpredictable and we have those options now.”
A win over Everton would take Arsenal’s tally to 60 points after 25 league games, making them just the third Arsenal side in history to achieve this.
“That means nothing,” Arteta said, adding that there would still be 13 games more to be played.
Arsenal have lost only three league games this season, including a 1-0 defeat at Everton on February 4. Arteta said his side would aim for a better performance this time against Sean Dyche’s team.
“It is a case of doing things better than we played them a few weeks ago and earning the right to win the game,” he added.
Midfielder Thomas Partey is unlikely to start against Everton after the midfielder came off the bench in their 1-0 win over Leicester City at the weekend, having missed two games due to a lower back injury.
“He has not trained much, he’s only had a session,” Arteta said. “He will train today (yesterday). He was out for a few weeks, and he needs to get the rhythm.”
The midfielder missed games against Manchester City and Aston Villa earlier this month through injury.
He made his comeback in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Leicester but he only managed six minutes after emerging from the bench in the closing stages.
Jorginho was signed in part because of Partey’s injury problems but the Ghana star is crucial to Arsenal’s hopes of winning the league title.
Arsenal face Everton at the Emirates tonight, with the Toffees battling for survival in the English Premier League.
With Manchester City playing next this weekend, Arsenal have the chance to go five points clear at the top of the table by beating Everton.
The Gunners remain top of the table, despite their recent struggles and tonight’s game is the Gunners’ game in hand on City.
Meanwhile, Arteta has dismissed the odd spat between William Saliba and Gabriel at the weekend, saying the pair love playing together but are very demanding of each other.
The Gunners beat Leicester 1-0 on Saturday at the King Power Stadium as they maintained their two-point lead at the top of the English Premier League table over the weekend.
It was an important victory as the title race continues, but there was an unusual scene after the final whistle as the two Arsenal centre-backs seemed to have an argument amid the celebrations.
There certainly appeared to be some frustration as the defenders exchanged words and the Frenchman even pushed the Brazilian away.
However, Arteta, while not explaining exactly what the interaction was about, dismissed it as two players who are close on and off the field having high standards of one another.
“They are a happy marriage,” Arteta told a press conference yesterday. “They love playing with each other, they are really demanding with each other, which is good. Everything is fine.”
Arteta added: “I don’t want robots, I want players with feeling and they demand more from each other. You want chemistry and those two have it on and off the field.”
Saliba and Gabriel have formed an impressive partnership in the middle of the Arsenal defence this season with the Frenchman shining in his first season in the Gunners first team after spells on loan at Saint-Etienne, Nice and Marseille.
The 21-year-old spoke ahead of the Leicester game of the great morale and close-knit nature of the squad, telling Sky Sports: “This season, we can see the mentality is so good in the team. We live together, we are all friends and that’s why we play well on the pitch.”
Tonight’s English Premiership Fixtures
Arsenal v Everton (9:45pm); Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers (10pm). — AFP
Online Reporter