With two games to go of the season, Mikel Arteta admits that he only visualises his players lifting the Premier League trophy in a little over a week’s time.
We head to Old Trafford on Sunday hoping to keep our championship challenge going to the final day by clinching a fifth victory in a row, and do everything in our power to push Manchester City all the way.
However, winning both the weekend’s clash and our finale against Everton still might not be enough to get our hands on the silverware if Pep Guardiola’s team also win all of their remaining fixtures, but despite that, our boss is using the power of positivity to try and encourage our players to believe that they can still end this campaign as champions.
When asked how he would feel if we came up short, Mikel refused to accept that thought. “My brain always takes me to the players lifting the Premier League,” he stated. “That's what my brain is doing at the moment. I just follow my brain and my gut and this is how I feel, and this is the way that I want everybody to think and hopefully we can achieve it.
“We have to think that it’s going to work. We try to be better than our opponents and beat them. The final outcome is something else. At the moment it’s not in our control.
“Being focused and determining what we have to do is the only thing that we can do, which is a lot. There’s still a lot to play for against very difficult opponents. we know the turns that can happen in this league, You just have to look at the history.”
History is something both teams are striving for this term, with City aiming for an unprecedented fourth successive top-flight title, while we aim to end a 20-year wait since our Invincibles were crowned.
Given we have battled toe-to-toe with arguably the best team in world football over the past two years, Mikel is thrilled with our progress as we attempt to end their domination of the English game but feels we simply have to keep striving for better if we’re to do so - be that this season or in subsequent campaigns.
“We are on the journey to try to catch [City] and be better than them, which is the aim and what we have to do,” he added. “It’s an inspiration to have this level of opposition and it makes you better if someone challenges you to go further and further.
“The history of City, they were winning trophies and winning the Premier League. They’ve been on an unbelievable journey over the last 10 to 15 years, but we want to change that. We’re trying to do everything that we can to improve and get better and better.
“You have to keep improving and try to be better than them.”
Read everything else Mikel said in his pre-Man Utd press conference
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