Arsenal: Will Arsenal’s end-of-season form haunt them again?

With the hype surrounding Arsenal and their history under Arteta when trying to win the title, the Gunners boss was asked if he needs to make sure his team don’t panic and stay focused on their task.

“This is what we have to do,” he said. “I mean we will be ready and ready to win every game, and the only thing we can do is focus on that and raise the levels collectively and individually to be better than the opponent every week.

“It’s the things we have to do, that’s the most important thing.”

Before Manchester City’s dramatic win over Liverpool on Sunday, it looked as if Arsenal would go nine points clear.

But after Erling Haaland’s late penalty sealed the three points and victory over Fulham on Wednesday, the deficit was reduced to three points and the pressure was once again on the Gunners.

When asked if playing after City would put new pressure on his team, Arteta said: “I don’t think so. I think we played well after them several times this season and won matches.”

Of the 17 games in which Arsenal scored their first Premier League goals this season, the draw with Brentford was the second time the team failed to win, alongside their loss to Manchester United in January.

Midfielder Declan Rice couldn’t have put it better: “This is a roller-coaster season.

“You can’t be naive to think it’s going to be easy. We’re playing against the best teams week in and week out. We have to keep pushing, believe in ourselves, and control the things we can control.

“We have to block out the outside noise. We did that really well. People will talk about the title race and Arsenal but we have a really calm group.”