Why Arsenal would sign for current situation despite spectre of Manchester City at kite-flying Fulham looming large

Arteta knows Gunners need to be foot-perfect – and even that might not be enough

Mikel Arteta insists he would have accepted Arsenal’s position in the Premier League title race heading into the final two weeks of the season had he been offered it at the start of the campaign – even though the destination of the trophy is not in their hands.

The Gunners sit top of the table heading into the penultimate weekend of the season and face a trip to out-of-sorts Manchester United on Sunday before hosting Everton on the final day. However, they could win both of those games and still not end a 20-year wait for a league title as Manchester City will usurp them if they win all of the three fixtures they have left to play.

Pep Guardiola’s reigning champions go to Fulham in Saturday’s early kick-off before travelling to face Arsenal’s north London rivals Tottenham and then taking on West Ham at home next weekend. But despite being slight underdogs, Arteta is pleased with where his team sit at this stage.

Arsenal will need to beat Manchester United on Sunday to keep their title dream alive.

“I would take the pen and sign it,” the Spaniard replied when asked if he would have taken Arsenal’s current position before a ball had been kicked this season. “My brain tells me when talking to the players that we are lifting the Premier League. That’s what my brain is doing at the moment and I want to follow my brain and my gut. This is the way I want everybody to think as well. Hopefully we can achieve it.”

Arsenal led the way for much of last season before being caught and past by a City side en route to winning the treble. The standard required to best City – who are aiming for an unprecedented fourth successive league title – is high – with Arteta “inspired” by the quality of a team he worked for as assistant coach before taking the main job at Arsenal.

Asked if the fact departing Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp leaves with just one Premier League title despite building such a fine team at Anfield proved the level of the challenge, Arteta added: “Yes. That and the history of City is that before that they were winning trophies. They’ve been on a great journey in the last 10 or 15 years. We want to change that and we will try to do everything we can to improve. We are on a journey to try and catch them and be better than them, which is the aim. It is an inspiration to have this level of opposition. That’s what makes you better when you have someone challenging you to be better and better.”

Arsenal head to Old Trafford to face a United team in disarray following a 4-0 thrashing at Crystal Palace on Monday night. The Red Devils sit eighth in the table and the future of manager Erik ten Hag is uncertain – but Arteta is still expecting a tough challenge on Sunday afternoon. “Obviously, the difficulty is still there,” he said. “The quality, the manager… it brings a lot of challenges. We’ve been in very difficult scenarios this season and we’ve done well. Hopefully we can do the same on Sunday.”

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City take on Fulham on Saturday lunchtime.

Man City boss Guardiola has no doubt Fulham will “do everything” to beat his team no matter how much fun they have had in training. Video footage circulated this week of some of Fulham’s squad flying kites at the club’s training ground during a lighter moment in their schedule. That prompted some fans of City’s title rivals Arsenal to question whether the mid-table Cottagers will have their minds fully on the job as they prepare to host the champions on Saturday.

“On that I don’t know what you are talking about, I never saw anything,” said Guardiola when asked about the Fulham video at his pre-match press conference. “But I never met one player or manager who, when they start to play, wasn’t focused to win the game, never ever in my life. When they play in front of their fans, they want to perform well and will do everything to beat us, like we are going to do everything to beat them.”

There are eight matches in total in the EPL on Saturday, with Man City’s visit to Fulham kicking things off at 12.30pm. At the other end of the table, relegation-threatened Luton Town know only a win will do when they take on West Ham in London. The Hatters, who sit in 18th place, trail Nottingham Forest by three points. Forest take on European hopefuls Chelsea at 5.30pm.

The Championship promotion play-offs also begin this weekend as four clubs bid for promotion. Norwich City host Leeds United at Carrow Road at midday on Sunday and then West Brom face Southampton at 2.15pm the same day.