William Saliba says Arsenal need to win all five of their remaining fixtures if they are to have any chance of winning the league title.
The Gunners returned to the top of the table with a 2-0 win over Wolves on Saturday night but with Liverpool level on points after beating Fulham and City one behind but with a game in hand, the Frenchman is under no illusions about the pressure his teammates face in the coming four weeks.
“If we sleep, the title can be over, so we had to get back quickly because if we lose, or we draw again, we know it is going to be tough to win the League,” he told reporters at Molineux.
“We have five games left — and if we want to win the Premier League, we have to first win our five games and wait [to see what happens].
“Of course, anything can happen in the last five games. If we want something at the end we have to win.
“It will be very tough because we are so close to Liverpool and City, but we started well today [against Wolves] and we have to keep going.
“If we want to put pressure on, we have to win, to win and keep going like this. It will be hard but we are prepared.”
Saliba isn’t wrong when he says it’ll be hard. The Gunners have a double-header of London derbies this week against Chelsea and Sp*rs then, next week, we host Bournemouth before rounding off the season with a trip to Old Trafford and a home game with relegation-threatened Everton.
“It is a very big week,” said Saliba. “I will have an ice bath, massage and do my best, but it is more mentally. Our legs are tired, but this is football. We play with our heads, that’s it. We have to push and give everything we have. We don’t have a choice, we have to play, it’s the end of the season.
“We have to push for the last five games and we will rest after. That’s why we are top — we have good players who don’t give up and sprint even at the last minute.”
Mikel Arteta will face the press at 1.30pm (UK) when we should learn more about who is available for tomorrow night’s game against Chelsea. The Blues, who lost their FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City on Saturday, come into the match unbeaten in their last eight Premier League matches.
Winning against our reminder games was always going to be a tough ask. City and Liverpool have easier run so they should do better than us. So whatever the outcome at the end I’m still proud with the team. We are still young and getting better. Next season with new additions and more experienced will be a mighty force. One thing – it would have been nice to still be in fa cup but well wasn’t meant to be. Onwards and upwards.
I’ve been super proud of this team, over the last 3 seasons, no matter what anybody says about bottling
Yea, I completely agree. This utter nonsense normally comes from fans/ pundits of man U, Chelsea and the spuds next door. Tells you all you need to know
Well just remind the chav fans of their bottle job record at Wembley, ManUre fans of their bottle job in the league and champions league, and spuds fans of their entire history of bottling it!!!
Fixture list is mad. Hope we can strengthen for the run in next season or at least have enough faith in the back up players to rotate in the games against smaller clubs next time round.
The thing I’m most happy about is that we haven’t (so far) collapsed in the final quarter of the season again.
The Villa defeat was very disappointing but we responded perfectly by winning in Wolverhampton on Saturday. The performance was average but adequate.
The Chelsea game won’t be easy. The Chavs played well in that semi-final but were let down by poor finishing. They will be dangerous tomorrow.
Winning the next 5 is a tall order, but I’m convinced that if we do it then we’ll win the title. Both City and Liverpool will drop points.
Sorry to disappoint you, but we will not win our next five games. We will draw one of the Chelsea,Spurs or Utd games. Also, City will not drop any more points, so it’s out of our hands. That Villa game was a must win and we failed. On to the next season.
Literally any team can drop points, nobody is infallible so when it happens we have to be ready to capitalise. Winning against Chelsea and spurs will put huge pressure on city come Sunday.
That’s the spirit…
Goals that are missing are from Jesus and Martinelli. If they don’t have a great final end of season, we will never do it. Problem is that these two are the players who withstand pressure the least.
And that’s supposed to the “naked” truth I presume?😀
What are the lottery numbers for this weekend, wisest of all sages?!
Man city have failed to win on 10 occasions in the premier league this season. Liverpool have failed to win 11 times.
Is it time to seriously think about employing World Cup tactics? Fireworks outside City hotel at 3 am before they face Brighton?
Thats a great idea to be honest.
When Big Willie speaks, everyone listens. “Mmmm, Juicy Fruit”
Spoken like a true warrior
Please, just win against Chelsea. No stories. No talks