LONDON — Mikel Arteta insists he “cannot wait” to face Manchester City and said he believes Arsenal must win at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to lift the Premier League title.
The Gunners came from two goals down to salvage a 3-3 draw against bottom club Southampton on Friday but handed a further advantage to second-placed City, who are now five points behind but with two games in hand.
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Carlos Alcaraz capitalised on a dreadful error by Arsenal goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale to score after 27 seconds before former Gunners forward Theo Walcott extended Southampton’s lead on 14 minutes.
Gabriel Martinelli halved the deficit but substitute Duje Caleta-Car nodded home on 66 minutes before Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka struck in the final three minutes of normal time to setup a grandstand finish.
However, Arsenal could not find a winner and will head to Manchester aiming to secure a first victory at City since January 2015.
“I cannot wait, these are the games you want to play,” Arteta told BBC Sport. “When everything is at stake you have to go there to win. The game will be prepared to that, that is for sure.
“It is the beauty of this sport, you want to be in these positions. We will have an incredible trip to Manchester and we will prepare really well.”
Arteta rejected claims Arsenal were struggling for self-belief but admitted their defending had to improve.
“I don’t see a lack of confidence,” he said. “When a team does that normally players start to hide. I played there and players start to hide in certain moments. I didn’t see a single player do that. They were all willing to take risks and initiative. That’s why we got back from 3-1 to 3-3 and should have won the game.
“The confidence is there. It’s just those moments. At this level you cannot give the goals away that we did. Simple as that.
“Today it’s clear. You cannot concede the goals the way we did to win games in the Premier League unless we make a miracle like we did in the last 40, or 50 minutes and then you still have the chance to win it.”