No room for error – Manchester City pose the toughest test yet for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta

When Mikel Arteta’s team led Liverpool 2-0 little more than a fortnight ago, they were poised to restore their lead over Manchester City to eight points and prove that they could handle the challenge. But they were pegged back at Anfield and since then they have started to wobble.

Sloppy mistakes have cost them points in three straight matches, handing the initiative back to City, whom they play tonight (Wednesday). The table suggests that Arsenal cannot afford to lose to the champions, while Arteta went further by saying that his side simply have to win – and nothing less.

The manager called for Arsenal to deliver the perfect performance, knowing that his players have been imperfect under pressure since the turn of the year. He was left to bemoan the gifts from his defenders Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel for City’s first two goals in the 3-1 win in the reverse fixture in February, while Oleksandr Zinchenko, Thomas Partey, Gabriel and Aaron Ramsdale all made mistakes when they lost 2-0 leads to draw 2-2 with Liverpool and West Ham United in consecutive matches.

On Friday, Arteta was stunned when Ramsdale passed straight to Carlos Alcaraz, who scored after 27 seconds in the 3-3 draw with Southampton, the league’s bottom club.

Arteta spoke of his players needing to better understand the fine margins at the elite level. They have got away with errors against some sides, but were ruthlessly exposed by City.

“For many periods we did really well against them in that game, but again we had one or two moments and the game was over,” Arteta said.

“You cannot give anything away, as big teams punish you. Sometimes they put you in certain positions to force mistakes. In certain areas you have to minimise the errors as much as possible because the margins become much smaller. It is decision-making, sometimes execution.”

Arsenal have not won the title for 19 years and last season they could not cope with the pressure of fighting for a Champions League place, losing badly away to Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United in the final three matches and missing out on fourth spot.

Gabriel Jesus and Zinchenko, who joined Arsenal from City for a combined 75 million pounds last summer, have been giving advice about their experiences of dealing with moments of high pressure and getting over the line.

Arteta does not believe that his team’s experiences last season will have a bearing on the match, as he thinks it is a different situation – his squad includes several new players and they know they cannot afford to be inhibited by the challenge.

“If they are, I will just say, ‘I will kill them,’ ” he joked. “And I don’t want that at all.”

Arteta has first-hand experience of how City have hunted down teams from the three years he spent working as assistant coach under Pep Guardiola at City.

The 41-year-old Spaniard has a deep knowledge of many of their players and Guardiola’s tactics, and also recognises that they have retained their desire for winning the league year after year. He has faced Guardiola as a manager eight times, losing seven and winning once – in the FA Cup semi-final in 2020 (Arteta missed the clubs’ meeting in January last year after a positive Covid test).

“If [knowing them] has an impact that is positive for us then it is a good thing,” he said.

“In the key moments you have to have that extra thing to win it, but the consistency they have had is incredible. Having someone say, ‘This is the level’ pushes everybody else. If you take everyone to those demands you can excel because you don’t know your limits. You’ve never seen a team at this age [Arsenal’s average age is 24.4 years] who have done what we have done. They have seen the level they really want to be at and that has been their inspiration.”

Arsenal have not scored in more than seven hours at the Etihad Stadium and have conceded 20 times in the past 14 matches, compared with 14 from their opening 18 games of the season, which is a concern given they will face the league’s top scorer, Erling Haaland.

Arteta thinks that stopping Haaland getting the ball is the best way of dealing with him but the manager’s defensive options are limited after William Saliba was ruled out with a back injury.

Rob Holding was booked and withdrawn at half-time when he came up against Haaland in the 1-0 defeat by City in the FA Cup fourth round in February.

“We are working on their threats and weaknesses and we know where they are,” he said.

“The issue with a team like City is that it starts with the goalkeeper and he is a threat when the ball is with him. They can do so many things. They play with a box inside, they can play with a diamond, they can build the game with three, they can be asymmetric on one side, they can play Bernardo [Silva] on the right and play with a diamond with Kyle Walker higher. You have to be adaptable to take the game where you want it.”

Arsenal finished in the top four for 20 successive seasons between 1997 and 2016 but they are on course to return to Europe’s elite competition next season.

Arteta suggested he may have something up his sleeve to fox City and a lot will come down to his players’ mentality and belief. “We really want it and we’re going to show that again,” he said. “We will try to take the game there.”

– The Times

Originally published as No room for error – Manchester City pose the toughest test yet for Arsenal and Mikel Arteta