Prior to the match against Man City, Mikel Arteta issues threat to Arsenal stars

In tonight’s Premier League summit match between Arsenal and Manchester City, Mikel Arteta has pledged to “kill” any Arsenal player who is unable to handle the strain.

Due to three consecutive draws against Liverpool, West Ham, and Southampton, the long-time leaders in the title battle have given up the lead.

A win at the Etihad would go a long way toward reviving hope that they can win the Premier League for the first time in 19 years. Arteta’s young team appears to have faltered at a crucial point in a season that had so much promise up until this point.

Arsenal has been accused of bungling the title after giving up two goals leads and drawing a demoralizing match against the club supporting the rest of the division, but Arteta believes he sees no indications that his team is hindered.

‘No,’ said Arteta when asked if his squad was feeling the pressure. ‘And if they do, I will just say: ‘I will kill them.’ And I don’t want that at all.’

‘Obviously the belief is there,’ he added. ‘When I look at how they trained, how they reacted after that, the mood in the dressing room, how they’ve been defending each other in every moment.

‘We really want it and we’re going to show that again tomorrow night. Then you have to deliver in the right moment, the right performance and it has to be perfection because that’s what this last level demands – absolute perfection in every single ball.’

City, in contrast, has been in excellent form at the ideal time of the season, and a victory tonight would extend their winning streak to eight games.

Pep Guardiola acknowledges that he still gets anxious before his team’s biggest game of the season, despite their perfect recent record.

He said: ‘Being nervous is part of our lives, being anxious is part of our lives, being scared is part of our lives.

‘We don’t have to be perfect. When we educate our kids, they (think they) have to be perfect for Instagram and TikToks, and this kind of thing, they have to be a genius.

‘But I would say the uncertainty, things that happen before a game, happen. When I feel that feeling I know it’s normal. The problem would be if I didn’t have that feeling.

‘At the same time, after the game, whatever happens, good or bad or whatever, you say it’s just part of the game and we look to the next one. I like to live this kind of adrenaline.’

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