Arteta casts aside top-four guarantee to focus on title bid

There was no fanfare that victory over Tottenham earned Arsenal back-to-back Champions League qualification – and that is what manager Mikel Arteta wanted. The 3-2 win at Spurs secured a top-four finish – but was seen as another stern test passed en route to a first potential title in two decades as Arsenal go head to head with Manchester City for a second season in succession. “Nobody asked about us qualifying for the Champions League. Not a single question,”

Arteta said ahead of today’s early kick-off at home to Bournemouth. “Now the only focus is on winning the Premier League. So next season, what is it going to be? These are the demands. This is how we live in this world. It is about now, what you have done and what else we have not done. “The question now is what else? What do we have to do now? What you have done, that is taken for granted.

“It is a good sign. Before you were looking, asking how many points does it need to be? ‘Still seven to go and we have three

matches, woah we are in trouble’. Now it is a different story and it’s a great sign.”

But he added: “Celebrating? No. Obviously that is the first thing we wanted to achieve, consistent Champions League football. It is the second year in a row, a consistent challenge for big titles. We are doing this. But we know what the aim is and it is right there.”

In spite of sitting on top of the table, City have a game in hand and are favourites to win an unprecedented fourth successive Premier League crown.

Arteta, who worked as an assistant under City boss Pep Guardiola, is now hoping his former club slip up.

“In my heart and in my soul … this is what I am hoping for, yes,” he conceded. “You just want to win, and to win you need others to drop points and you are hoping for that to happen.”

Arteta has a fully fit squad to select from as Jurrien Timber is

Mikel Arteta admits he hopes his old club Manchester City drop points

back in contention after the knee injury that has seen him sidelined since August. But he said: “It’s tricky because there are only three games to go and he has missed eight months of football.”