Mikel Arteta asserted that he is going game by game in the bid for major honours.
**Arsenal**are going to face Bayer Leverkusen in the Round of 16 in the Champions League, and they are in the kinder half of the knockout bracket, avoiding several European giants. It is another boost to their bid for a first **Champions League**title as the side still are also in the hunt for the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and the Premier League. But Arteta is not allowing complacency to settle.
“Well, we are very excited to play the next round. We have earned the right to be in a strong position, what we’ve done in the group stage and that’s it. Now we need to start to analyse them and find ways to be better than them to try and go through the tie.
“When you play like this, you only want to be first, that’s it. So imagine how the rest of the teams are. That’s the aim - always get better, always try to excel the possibilities of the team, whether that be individually or collectively. That’s what we’re trying to do, get to the last stage of the competitions in April and May and see what we’re able to do.
“I want to see signs of confidence, enthusiasm, and a lot of will to win [against] what is in front of us, and that’s what I see every single day from the team. We are excited. Going on four fronts and the way the team is consistently performing gives us hope and positive thoughts about what is coming. But we can only focus on the present, that's where we're going to put our energy and that's on Sunday.
“Let’s go game by game, let's try to earn the right to continue to be there until the last stage of every competition, and then we'll see what happens. I focus a lot on what we have to do to continue in the manner and the trajectory that we are as a team, and from there, obviously, try to improve it.”