Arteta refuses to rule Arsenal out of top four contention due to Man City

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal still have a chance of making it into the top four this season despite their shaky start.

Overseeing his first full season as Arsenal boss after leading them to the FA Cup last summer, Arteta has endured mixed fortunes in the Emirates Stadium hotseat.

Arsenal went seven Premier League games without a win between November and December. Some pundits even warned them they were in a relegation battle.

Things have been much improved since Christmas, though. Their revival started with a 3-1 win over rivals Chelsea on Boxing Day and they have not tasted defeat in six league games since.

Elimination from the FA Cup blotted their record in January, but they can now focus more on making ground in the league.

Going into their clash with Wolves on Tuesday, Arsenal are 10th in the Premier League table. They are eight points away from the top four.

However, Arteta does not think it is too late for them to charge towards the Champions League places. He cited the way Manchester City have climbed up the table right to the summit in recent weeks as inspiration.

“I think it’s too early because there are a lot of points,” he said.

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“You have to be consistent, you don’t just depend on yourselves so let’s stick to what we can do, what we can do better and the better we do that the bigger chance at the end of the season there will be to fight for that.

“There are things that are not really in our control at the moment, but many of them there are and that’s the things that we have to do as well as possible.”

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Things changing quickly this season

“You see the results every weekend and you go: ‘wow.’ Very surprised and most of the time it’s not one or two, it’s more than that,” Arteta continued.

“It tells you how difficult the season has been for everybody and how much things can change.

“Look for example at Man City where they were two-and-a-half months ago and where they are right now and you cannot believe it. But that’s the reality in this league.”

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