04 December 2023 , 22:30
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Mikel Arteta has claimed Arsenal can only afford to lose three more Premier League games this season after setting a target of 96-100 points to win the title.
The North London club can open up a five-point lead at the top by winning at Luton on Tuesday night before their title rivals play this week. Arsenal have racked up 33 points in their first 14 games - four fewer than at this stage last season - when they led by eight points at the start of April before finishing second behind Manchester City on 84 points.
Winning all 24 remaining games would see Arsenal finish on 105 points. Manchester City set the record of 100 in 2017/18. Arteta said: “Do I have a target? Yes. 96-100 I think you win the league. That is the cushion.”
His former club City have drawn their last three Premier League games to slip to third. “Do I take encouragement from that? No,” Arteta stated.
“The encouragement comes from watching the team play, watching them behave every day and how hungry and willing they are to approach every training session. That’s what gives me encouragement. What the others do is something that we cannot control.”
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Asked if a squad containing £100m Declan Rice is better placed to win the title this season, the Spaniard responded: "I don’t think about that.
Arteta has set his side a clear points target (Arsenal FC via Getty Images)"I think about how we’re going to play better tomorrow and be more consistent and be more difficult to beat and the things that we need to tweak and how we can use our players in the best possible ways to win. It’s still a huge marathon ahead of us.
Pep Guardiola had a gentle dig at his former assistant on Sunday by claiming: "I will not do a Mikel Arteta comment” about the referee following the 3-3 draw with Tottenham.
Arteta, who called the VAR decision to allow Newcastle's goal "embarrassing" and a "disgrace", smiled: “I have enough in my garden and in my plate as well so we’ll move on. If I am good at mind games maybe you don’t notice.”