Arteta tells Gunners to put rivalry aside

MIKEL Arteta has urged his players to put their north London rivalry with Tottenham to one side as Arsenal look to stay top of the Premier League with victory at their neighbours.

The Gunners will make the short trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium tomorrow knowing they will remain at the summit if they leave with the three points.

It would take Arsenal a step closer to a first league crown in two decades, when Arsene Wenger’s Invincibles secured the title at White Hart Lane.

Spurs have since moved into a new home and will have a partisan crowd cheering them on against Arsenal as the hosts aim to keep their own top-four ambitions on track.

Arteta wants to remove the emotion of derby day and focus on the job at hand.

“We played there a few times already and it’s a great place to play football,” he said.

“We have to put the rivalry aside and we have to live the game with passion and the intensity that it demands rather than anything special because the game has everything you need to enjoy it.”

Remarkably, Arsenal have played four matches since Tottenham last kicked a ball – losing to Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final but beating Wolves and Chelsea to stay top, even if Manchester City have a game in hand.

However, Arteta does not want to use fixture congestion as an excuse heading into one of the most important north London derbies in recent history.

“For sure we’re going to be fully ready,” he said.

“We have a bit of time to recover and prepare from the Chelsea game and I’m sure we’re going to be fully ready to go again on Sunday.

“I love the fact that we played four games. We had some great experiences. It’s been a really demanding week.

“We had some great results in the last two. That’s boosted the confidence of everybody. We’re in a good place.”

Despite being top of the table, Opta’s predictions give Arsenal just a 26.6% chance of lifting the Premier League, with City firm favourites following a comfortable win over Brighton on Thursday.

“Maybe we can tweak the computer to make it a bit higher,” Arteta added with a smile.

“Maybe it needs to update the software, we can help it to update the software and give it more tools. Hopefully we can change that.”

Meanwhile, Son Heung-min is confident Tottenham can cause Arsenal problems in tomorrow’s derby – despite the Gunners being one of the top sides in the world.

Spurs captain Son insisted: “I think it will be a good test for our team.

“Obviously we’re very young and we’ re still a little bit inexperienced because we’re building a young team with new experiences.

“Some of the players are in their first season in the Premier League.

“So look, we can test ourselves against one of the biggest teams in Europe and the Premier League, but also in the world.

“I think it’s very important the way we play. Stick to our play, stick to our game. I think it’s a very, very good test.

“As I said, it’s against one of the best teams in the world, so it’s perfect (for us). You want to always have good competition and you always want to face the best teams in the world.”

Tottenham will hope to raise their level in the coming weeks after taking points off Arsenal and Manchester City during the first half of the season.

Ange Postecoglou’s debut campaign in charge of Spurs has seen plenty of highs and the occasional low, with the 4-0 thrashing at Newcastle arguably the worst display of his reign.

It has increased the scrutiny on the visit of Arsenal with Tottenham eager to avoid back-to-back painful defeats, especially with a top-four finish now seemingly unlikely.

Son admitted: “It was an unacceptable result and unacceptable performance, as well from me. As a group, we’re talking a lot about this game and performance and everybody knows how to step up.

“So, they’re working really hard to bounce back. It will be a really good game to bounce back and obviously the motivation will be even higher than in other games.

“I think we’ve got to just work hard until the game and do our style of play. Then there’s no doubt we can bounce back.

“Obviously it’s a game everyone is looking forward to. It’s a big derby and we know what it means for the team, the club and also for the fans.”

STAY FOCUSED: Boss Mikel Arteta has warned his Arsenal players not to get caught up in the emotion of tomorrow’s derby at Spurs.