Newcastle United travel to Arsenal in the Premier League this evening.
William Saliba has urged his Arsenal teammates to “be calm” ahead of their clash with Newcastle United.
And in a passionate battle cry, the Frenchman claimed the Gunners squad should “die on the pitch” to fulfil their title dream. The Magpies face a wounded animal in North London later today.
While Eddie Howe’s men are also in poor form, Arsenal have also lost their last four domestic fixtures. Back-to-back Premier League defeats has given Manchester City the advantage in the title race.
‘We need to die on the pitch’ - William Saliba
Speaking before Newcastle’s visit, Arsenal centre-back Saliba sent a rallying call to his teammates. He said: “I think we need to be calm. We need to die on the pitch as well, because it’s now. Now we have to go, and we need everyone.
“The supporters, the team, the staff, everyone, because we have to do it now. Last game we wanted to win, and we didn’t. But it’s not finished. Now we know what we have coming, and we know what we have to do if we want to win the league.
“We have to start on Saturday. We have good pressure with us because when you play football, you want to play these kinds of games. We’re ready for that.”
Mikel Arteta wary of Newcastle United
Despite Newcastle’s recent form, Arteta is wary of the problems Eddie Howe and Co can cause in North London this afternoon. He told reporters: “We know the difficulty of the league.
“I'm very clear that 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, and if we do that, we're going to have a big chance of winning it.”
“Every game will be different. Focus on the priorities and the things that we can do to help the players arrive in the best state possible with the team.
“Make sure that we have all the players available, which is one of the most important things and a big lesson that we'll learn from it. And give them confidence and trust and belief that we're going to do it. That's it.”
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