It’s still all to play four
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SPOT A REAL TARGET VOWS ARTETA
WOLVES V ARSENAL 6PM
MIKEL ARTETA insists it is wrong to write off Arsenal’s chances of a Champions League place.
TV pundit Jamie Carragher claimed “there’s no way they’re going to get top four” after Arsenal’s draw with Manchester United left them eight points behind Leicester in fourth.
But Arteta insists the unpredictable nature of the season – which has seen Arsenal move up the table with four wins and two draws from their past six games – means it is too early to suggest they cannot make it.
The Gunners boss said: “I think it’s too early because there are a lot of points (to play for).
“You have to be consistent, you don’t just depend on yourselves so let’s stick to what we can do.
“What we can do better, and the better we do that, the bigger chance at the end of the season there will be to fight for that (the top four).
“There are things that are not really in our control at the moment, but many of them there are and those are the things that we have to do as well as possible.
“You see the results every weekend and you go, ‘Wow, very surprised’. And most of the time it’s not one or two, it’s more than that. It tells you how difficult the season has been for everybody and how much things can change.”
Citing Manchester City’s stunning return to form as an example of how things could quickly change for Arsenal, Arteta added: “Look at where City were two and a half months ago and where they are right now and you cannot believe it. But that’s the reality in this league.”
Arsenal’s upturn in fortunes has also been mirrored by Alexandre Lacazette’s return to form, the France striker scoring five goals during the Gunner’s post-Christmas revival.
Lacazette, 29, was struggling badly during Arsenal’s poor run. But now the ex-Lyon forward could be heading for a new deal. Arteta added: “The moment he transformed a little bit his confidence, he became a different player. I think it is linked to confidence, and that is linked to playing more regular minutes and scoring more goals.
“He finds himself in better form. And then it is about supporting our players. A lot of things relate to the game, things he needs to read better about his movement, sometimes about his body language.
“We will talk certainly about his contract situation. At the moment what I want is that he keeps performing the way he is until the end of the season and then it will be the right time to talk about it.”