Mikel Arteta has addressed Newcastle United's form and the pressure on Eddie Howe as his Arsenal side prepare to welcome the Magpies this weekend.
Arsenal are now second in the Premier League after Manchester City narrowly beat Burnley during the week, moving ahead of the Gunners on goals scored. Though, Arsenal play in the Premier League and City are in FA Cup action, so there will be an unbalanced look to the table again after this weekend.
Still, it's vital that Arsenal take care of business to ensure City aren't able to take control of the title race when they do play, and from this point on, both sides will be conscious of goal difference, given they have the same number of points.
That can be dangerous for a team, with winning games often a tougher task when you are trying to maximise goals scored, and City found that out during the week, only able to beat an effectively relegated Burnley side 1-0.
Composure is going to be key down the stretch, and Arsenal know they have a tough game against Newcastle this weekend, even if the Magpies are bang out of form.
Mikel Arteta refuses to undermine Eddie Howe despite Newcastle's struggles
In fact, Howe, who is deemed by most to have done a wonderful job during his time at St James' Park, is now coming under pressure due to the fact his side are as low as 14th in the table, with the North-East side clearly underachieving when you factor in the quality of their squad.
But Arteta won't be taking Newcastle for granted this weekend, and he still holds Howe in high regard for the work he has done.
"Well, we know the difficulty of the league," Arteta said in his pre-match press conference. "Very clear, the ability and the quality of Newcastle, what Eddie’s done with that team and continues to do, we know how tough the opponent is going to be tomorrow. We have to be at our best. If we do that, we're going to have a big chance to win."
Arteta also addressed the potential psychological impact of dropping to second in the league table, given Arsenal have led the league for almost the entire season.
"No, because before the psychological effect was that we were getting chased for many months," he dismissed. "So, what is better, what is worse? At the end of the day, we know what is the best thing, to win the next game. So the psychological effect is tough regardless of where you are because you have to win the game."
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