Arteta refuses to rule Arsenal out of top four race
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Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has refused to rule the Gunners out of the race for a place in the top four of the Premier League this season, according to Goal.
The Gunners are currently tenth in the Premier League and find themselves eight points off of fourth-placed Leicester City. Arteta’s side are currently on a seven-game unbeaten streak in the league and have picked up 17 points out of a possible 21 over this period.
Prior to this run, they went seven Premier League games without a win which saw them flirt with a relegation fight. Their poor form saw them make the worst start to a season since the 1974/75 campaign. Arteta came under serious pressure and some serious questions were asked about his future as Arsenal manager.

Their recent upturn in form in what has been a volatile season has seen them go from possible relegation candidates to a team that could qualify for a place in next season’s Champions League.
Many have said that the North London side are not good enough to finish in the top four but Arteta feels it is too early to rule the Gunners out as there are still so many points to play for.
He cited Manchester City’s rise up the Premier League table and their emergence as title favourites as a good example for why it is too early to draw conclusions from this crazy season of football. He said:
“I think it’s too early [to be ruled in or out] because there are a lot of points, 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 are and that’s the things that we have to do as well as possible.”
“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.”
“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.”
“I think it’s the case of the competition in this league and the amount of mistakes that we make for ourselves in crucial moments of games that leads to the team losing those games.”
“The moment we corrected that we were much stronger. I think confidence is a big factor and if you’re losing games and cannot explain why then players tend to have bad fears sometimes, or not be that convinced that they can actually win every single game.”
“But when you get into a good run of form then it’s completely the opposite and it’s what is happening at the moment.”
The Gunners will travel to Molineux to take on Wolves in the Premier League on Tuesday.