Mikel Arteta thinks Arsenal can thrive as the chasers in the Premier League title race having spent previous years looking over their shoulders.
Arsenal host West Ham on Saturday knowing they can breathe new life into the title race by cutting the gap to Liverpool to just five points ahead of their meeting with Manchester City on Sunday.
The Gunners looked at one point in the season that they might drift away from contention but a superb 15-game unbeaten run in the league has catapulted them back into the fray.
In the previous two seasons, Arteta’s side have led from the front only to fall away to Pep Guardiola’s City down the home stretch of the season.
But now tasked with chasing down Arne Slot’s side this season, Arteta is hopeful that Arsenal can learn from the previous two seasons and exert a similar pressure that they felt in campaigns gone by.
‘I prefer to depend on me, because when you depend on somebody else there are too many factors,’ Arteta said.
‘But it feels different, it feels like we can generate the right momentum and a team with these performances is able to convince itself that we can do it.
‘Suddenly we feel really, really strong. And that’s probably mentally a point that it can go for us.’
Arsenal still have to find solutions to problems if they are to sustain their title push, most notably their lack of fit and firing attackers.
An unsuspected brace from Mikel Merino bailed out Arsenal last weekend against Leicester, but Arteta is keen to see more from his other available forwards such as Raheem Sterling.
The 30-year-old has struggled for regular minutes since arriving on loan from Chelsea back in August but now has a free run in the team owing to injuries to Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Kai Havertz.
‘Yeah (Sterling can have an impact), and he has to have it because we really need him,’ Arteta said.
‘Hopefully he’s not (low on confidence) because we try to give him as much as possible, but that’s a question for him.
‘But we are all behind him, we want the best for him. It’s going to be really important and we need his best. We need the players only with that mindset, to be here to impact the team.’
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