Mikel Arteta insists Arsenal are still gunning for the Premier League title as he praised his squad for refusing to settle for Champions League qualification.
Having topped the table for much of the season, Arsenal slipped from the summit following Manchester City’s 2-1 win at Fulham on Sunday afternoon.
City have now won eight successive league games, including a 4-1 humbling of the Gunners last week which put a fifth title in six years in their own hands.
Conversely, Arsenal have taken just three points from their last four fixtures but their form over the course of the campaign has at least guaranteed a return to Champions League football after six seasons away from Europe’s top table.
While City are now favourites, Arteta will be aiming for a return to form when struggling Chelsea visit the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night as he refused to rule Arsenal out of the hunt.
“We have achieved what it was difficult to achieve and we can still achieve the Premier league because there are five games to go and a lot of things are going to happen still,” he said.
“Now the title race is not in our hands anymore. What is in our hands is to try to win the games we have left and the rest is down to City.
“What we have to do is forget about what happened last week, learn from it and move on to the next game with a full tilt at home, with our people, London derby, and put things right.
“I know what we were trying to do, what the objective was what we’ve been doing and we still have the nicest part of the season to play with five games to go. But when I still look at it, this is not over.
“I am incredibly proud and thankful to everyone who has contributed to bringing Champions League football back to this club with five or six games to go, it is something that hasn’t happened in over a decade in this football club.
“So congratulations but also thank you for still being upset and not accepting that Champions League is not enough and we want more because this squad is going to demand to get what we want.”
Victory over Chelsea would take Arsenal back to the top of the table for at least 24 hours having led the pack for 247 nights so far this season.
The Blues, having spent a reported £600million on players in the last two transfer windows, are on a run of eight games without a win and have Frank Lampard as interim boss following the sacking of Graham Potter in April.
Arteta, though, believes Chelsea’s plight is proof a club needs more than just a huge transfer budget to be successful.
“In our model we have very important things,” he said.
“First of all, is to have the right people and I think we have the right people. Then we have the right players who can compete, they can challenge, they can understand their role within the team.
“You need quality, goal threat, physicality, you need a lot of things in this game and that is extremely difficult to find that thin balance with the players.
“Recruiting is just… you have the best intention but then the player has to come here, has to fit in, has to get that chemistry with the manager, the team-mates, the staff, the country. It is not easy at all so credit to everybody who makes those decisions as well.
“They have exceptional talent. If they make that work, they can do anything because they have the players, they have the infrastructure they have the history to do it.”
Keane doubts Man Utd will crack top four under Amorim this season
Roy Keane does not believe Manchester United will get back into the Premier League's top four under Ruben Amorim this season due to a "real lack of quality".
The Red Devils legend was speaking after United started life under the Portuguese with a 1-1 draw at Ipswich Town, as Omari Hutchinson cancelled out Marcus Rashford's second-minute opener.
Keane acknowledged Amorim has to be given time to turn things around at Old Trafford, but does not see United cracking the top four this season.
"You have to give the man a chance," Keane told Sky Sports. "But the threat going forward, it's a huge problem for Man Utd. It's not good enough.
"Do I believe they have the quality to get them back to top four? Absolutely not. The evidence is not there. It's the same old stuff. Predictable and a real lack of quality."
United created 0.9 xG compared to Ipswich's 1.75 and had fewer shots on target (four) compared to Ipswich (six) at Portman Road.
They did have more touches in the opposition box (16 to 11) but had fewer final-third entries (48 to 61) and big chances created (two to three).
Ipswich were extremely resilient opponents after their early setback, and Tractor Boys boss Kieran McKenna praised his side, particularly Hutchinson after he grabbed his first Premier League goal.
"I thought he (Hutchinson) was a big threat first half, naturally more a winger, but most teams are going to press us high and in the spaces in the middle of the pitch having a dribbler in the middle of the pitch who's elusive and hard to pick up can be a big threat," he told Sky Sports.
"I think it's his first goal in the Premier League he'll be happy to have that of his back and he's improving."
"The first half, it's a blow to concede the early goal but I thought as the half went on we grew in the ascendancy, and the intensity of pressing and work on the ball.
"I thought we were the dominant team in the first half and deserved to be going in at least level. Second half in fairness, Man Utd had more control. It was difficult, we had to defend with real discipline on shape."
Leganes 0-3 Real Madrid: Mbappe and Bellingham score as Blancos close on Barcelona
Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham were both on target as Real Madrid moved to within four points of LaLiga leaders Barcelona with a 3-0 win at Leganes.
Federico Valverde also scored for Carlo Ancelotti's side, who still have a game in hand on leaders Barca, who were pegged back in a 2-2 draw with Celta Vigo on Saturday.
Mbappe ended a goal drought of over 400 minutes after being teed up by Vinicius Junior shortly before half-time, moments after Leganes had surrendered possession near the edge of their own area.
Madrid dominated possession throughout the second half and doubled their advantage in the 66th minute, Valverde drilling a low effort home from a free-kick won by Bellingham.
Bellingham later got in on the act with a header on the rebound after substitute Brahim Diaz rattled the crossbar, as Madrid cruised to back-to-back league wins.
Data Debrief: Dirty work pays off for Madrid
Mbappe's opener, scored at a vital time shortly before the interval, set Madrid on their way to victory on Sunday.
Eduardo Camavinga and Bellingham both pressed high to help the visitors recover possession in the build-up, and Madrid have now scored five goals resulting from high turnovers in LaLiga this season – the most of any team across Europe's top five leagues.
This was the first time Ancelotti had faced Leganes in LaLiga, and he has now beaten all 28 different opponents he has come up against in the competition.
Napoli 1-0 Roma: Lukaku downs former club on Ranieri's return
Claudio Ranieri's Roma return was spoilt by Romelu Lukaku, whose goal against his old club sealed a 1-0 win for Napoli.
Ranieri was appointed Roma boss over the international break, with the 73-year-old coming out of retirement to take charge of the club for a third time.
Yet it was ex-Roma striker Lukaku who decided Sunday's contest at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, with his 54th-minute effort sending Antonio Conte's team back to the top of Serie A.
Lukaku was well-placed to convert from Giovanni Di Lorenzo's cutback, bringing up his fifth Serie A goal of the campaign.
Roma, who had just two attempts and managed only 0.07 expected goals (xG) in the first half, woke up after Lukaku's goal, with Artem Dovbyk powering a header off the woodwork from a free-kick minutes later, but the visitors' comeback attempts proved fruitless.
Ranieri's next task is to rally his troops for a Europa League clash with Tottenham on Thursday.
Data Debrief: Ranieri's underwhelming return
There was no sign of an immediate upturn for 12th-place Roma, if they were hoping for a new-coach bounce.
Roma ended the first half with fewer than 70 successful passes (68). It is the first time they have had so few successful passes in the opening half of a league game since 2004-05.
With only three wins to their name in the league, they have won fewer than four matches in their opening 13 Serie A games for the first time since the 1978-79 campaign (also three).
And of course, it had to be Lukaku, who was leading their line last season, that delivered the hammer blow. The Belgium international has been involved in nine goals in Serie A this term (five goals, four assists). Only his former Everton club-mate Ademola Lookman, now a star at Atalanta, has contributed to more goals in the competition (seven goals, four assists).
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
