Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta believes his team’s chances of winning the English Premier League are still intact despite Sunday’s heartbreaking 2-1 defeat to Manchester City.
Erling Haaland’s second-half strike fired City to a crucial win, following Rayan Cherki’s opener in the 16th minute, which lasted only 30 seconds before Arsenal drew level through Kai Havertz.
The Gunners are top with 70 points, while the Citizens remain second with 67 points but could go level on Wednesday if they beat Burnley in their game in hand.
Despite popular belief among fans that Arsenal have bottled their chance to win the league, Arteta remains hopeful they can still be victorious with just five games remaining.
“I believe today, I believe on Wednesday, a week ago, because I see them every day and I know the level that we have. But today, if they need to be more convinced, I think they are now more convinced. They were talking about it in the dressing room. It’s a new league now,” he said when asked if he believes Arsenal can still win the league.
He added, “They (City) were a game in hand. We have three points of advantage and five games to play. So everything is still to play for. So we know how much we want it, and we’re not going to stop, and we’re going to go again, that’s for sure.”
On the importance of goal difference in the run-in, Arteta said, “Let’s see what happens. It’s the Premier League. First of all, to win a game in this league, it’s extremely tough. I mean, the fixtures that we both have, it’s going to be tough for both of them. You know, we would have already 80 points or 85 points, like happened in other seasons. This is not the case. We will prepare game by game and learn from what happened today and do better.”
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