Mikel Arteta emphasizes his focus on one game at a time, responding to Pep Guardiola’s declaration that he’s certain Manchester City will clinch the Premier League title again.
After a turbulent 4-3 win over Luton on Tuesday, Arsenal sits five points ahead at the top of the table, albeit with an extra game played.
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City faces a challenging test against an in-form Aston Villa side tonight, navigating the absence of suspended players Rodri and Jack Grealish.
Despite Liverpool’s strong presence in the title race after a thrilling seven-goal match against Fulham, Guardiola remains extremely confident that City will prevail once the finish line approaches.
Speaking at his press conference ahead of the trip to Villa Park, the manager said: ‘I never use these situations – the motivation is just to try to do better, that is it,’ said Guardiola at his pre-match press conference.
‘I have learned that if you want to win something, you have to do it much better than your opponents. When you are level, that is not always going to happen (winning) so you have to do it much, much better – and this is what they have to do.
‘My feeling today is we are going to win the Premier League – if we play at the levels we did against Liverpool and Tottenham, we are going to win it again.
‘People don’t believe it after three draws but we are going to do it again. We know that it is not easy [winning four Premier League titles in a row], no team has done it yet, and that is why the difficulty is there.
‘But if you ask what I’m feeling, I want to do it again.’
When questioned about Guardiola’s confident prediction, Arteta chose to revel in the glory of the previous night’s victory and declined to engage in a back-and-forth with his former mentor.
He said: ‘I am really happy that we won tonight’s game and I am extremely proud of my players.’
