Coach Mikel Arteta confirmed that Arsenal can still win the Premier League after returning to the top of the table with a convincing 3-1 victory over Chelsea, despite Man.City being only 2 points behind and still having 2 matches to play.
Coach Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal can still win the Premier League.
The Gunners are back on top with their first win in five games beating a struggling Chelsea, but they will be overtaken by Man.City again on Wednesday if the champions beat West Ham in a tie at Etihad. The title race is out of Arsenal’s control at this point, but manager Arteta believes the north London side still have a chance to lift the Premier League trophy for the first time since 2004.
“We have four games left, we are at the top of the league, that’s one of the things we need to talk about tonight,” the Spaniard insisted: “We can go back to where we are. we have been in for months, and now we need to wait and see. We know that things are out of hand, but we will do our best. With four games to go, Newcastle are the first opponents and it’s definitely a tough game, but we’ll be prepared to win it.”
Coach Arteta made three changes to the squad that lost 1-4 at Man.City in the middle of last week, with the aim of strengthening the team’s defensive capacity. Midfielder Jakub Kiwior, who made his first Premier League start since moving from Spezia in January, replaced Rob Holding, who has been plagued with problems. Jorginho replacing Thomas Partey in the center of midfield is another notable change. “It was a big task for Jakub,” Arteta said. “I put him in games with big players because I believe he is ready. His collaboration with Gabriel Magalhaes is really good. Jorginho gave us a bit of control and leadership in midfield. I am very pleased with them.”
Losing Gabriel Magalhaes at Newcastle would be something Arsenal didn’t expect.
However, things did not go well for the Gunners. Centre-back Gabriel was unable to finish the game because of pain and threats that the Gunners may not have the best defense when away on Sunday at Newcastle – the team is sublimated with 8 victories in the last 9 rounds. Most determined to win to secure more than one place in the Champions League. Coach Arteta admitted worried: “Gabriel is not comfortable. He tried for 10 or 15 minutes but couldn’t continue. So that’s a big concern because normally Gabriel is not someone who wants to leave the pitch early.”
Arsenal are currently without number 1 centre-back William Saliba due to back problems. So, if Gabriel can’t play, the pairing between Jakub Kiwior and Rob Holding is clearly not believable.
