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Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has said his team has to be “perfect” ahead of their trip to face Manchester City on Wednesday.
Arteta, however, insisted that it would not be a Premier League title decider.
City and Arsenal go into their potential Premier League title decider both on long unbeaten runs but with momentum perhaps swinging towards City.
Arteta’s side are on a run of three dramatic draws in succession, and with questions being asked over their nerve in the run-in.
They led 2-0 early on against both Liverpool and West Ham, only to be pegged back and draw 2-2. Against Southampton, by contrast, they trailed 2-0 and 3-1 before scoring twice in the last three minutes to salvage a 3-3 draw.
They had won seven straight league games previously, including three in a row by three-goal margins, giving them 24 points from a possible 30.
That run was interrupted by a Europa League exit on penalties to Sporting Lisbon, drawing both legs of the last-16 tie, but they remain unbeaten in 10 league games – one more than City, and scoring three goals or more in seven of those games – and 12 in all competitions.
Arteta said: “If we win tomorrow night we haven’t won the league, that’s for sure. It will shift the percentages a little bit, but with five games left after this, it will still be very tricky.
“We wanted to close that gap as much as we could and we’re toe-to-toe with them. We knew we had to go to the Etihad. Is it going to define the season? The answer is no.
“Mentality plays a huge part. Obviously, the belief is there. When I look at how they train and the way they’ve reacted, the mood in the dressing room and the way they defend each other, we really want it.
“We’re going to show that again tomorrow night. But we have to deliver in the right moment with the right performance and it has to be perfection because that’s what this last level demands – absolute perfection.”
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