After the international break and the FA Cup game weekend, the Cherries travel to the league leaders.
They won at the Emirates Stadium last season to complete the double over the Gunners, and they went toe-to-toe with Mikel Arteta’s side earlier this term, in a 3-2 defeat at Dean Court.
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A victory for the Cherries would help to make the title race interesting, but Iraola knows that if they are to get at the least a draw, they must be excellent, but the chance to set a record will be a tool to motivate the side.
“It's not easy to be 11 games unbeaten in the Premier League at this level,” he said.
“I think we've tied the record that we had past season, 11 games.
Andoni Iraola greets Mikel Arteta. (Image: Richard Crease)
“We will need a big, big, big performance if we want to add the 12th one because we play Arsenal away and it doesn't get a lot more difficult than that game.
“But why not?
“And I think we can also use it as a motivation, to try to beat the run we had past season and go there after this kind of break we have, with the mentality to do it.”
The boss expressed his frustration of another draw against Manchester United last Friday, as they have drawn their past five games in their 11-game unbeaten run.
Those draws mean Bournemouth have not had a huge reward for their strong form, and Iraola joked that had the points system not changed to three points for a win, they would be in a much stronger position.
“When I was a kid, it was two points if you win, one point if you draw,” he told the Daily Echo.
Andoni Iraola celebrating the Cherries' victory over Arsenal (Image: Richard Crease)
“We would have been in a much better situation in the standings, but it's not like this anymore.
“Now the reward of a win is much, much bigger. Definitely, we've never played for a point in any of these draws, I would say.
“In any of these draws.
“Sometimes draws are good because you've been the worse team and then you find a way to get one point.
“But I don't think that has been the case in in any of these five draws, in any.
“But it is what it is. It's not like we are drawing and we are going to throw the point and lose it. We try to get the three, but now everything is costing us.
“And I say it in a run of, I think, 11 games unbeaten also. But it's football and we have to keep pushing.
“Now it's difficult to recover these points, not this one, probably the ones we lost against Brentford, against Sunderland, against Burnley the last game, but we will try, yes.”