Given the current hectic schedule, having four-day gap between games this week has been a bit of a luxury for Mikel Arteta.
So what has our head coach been working on with his players ahead of Sunday's north London derby?
"We had a training session straight after the game and then a day off," he said. "We hadn't had a day off or a long time now and now we have two days to prepare the game. Hopefully the players are ready and focused, facing a big, big game.
"I think a derby has a completely different context to what is happening with the current form and anything like that. I have huge respect for Jose, for what he's trying to do there, and we know to go there and get a win we're going to have to do everything really, really well. I'm expecting a really tough game.
"You never know what can happen in a derby because when the passion and the emotions kick in, a lot of things can happen and from a very controlled game it can go to a completely different game and that’s somewhere we need to know how to manage. I’ve been involved in a few of them so there’s always some surprises."
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