Mikel Arteta has joked 'nothing has changed' regarding Opta having Manchester City as more likely to win the league than Arsenal.
City's chances of lifting the Premier League trophy are predicted at 53% by OPTA in comparison to that of 47% for Arsenal, despite the Gunners sitting six points clear of Pep Guardiola's side. That said, the nature of Arsenal's achievements this season has seen their chances rise from 0.1% back in August, highlighting just how much they have defied expectations to sit in their current position.
Arsenal boss Arteta was quizzed on these Opta predictions in his pre-West Ham press conference on Friday, giving a typical level-headed response. He said: "When you asked them at the start of the season, for sure it was like this. So nothing has changed."
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The 41-year-old was then pushed on whether he himself expected Arsenal to be pushing for the title, particularly given so many pundits had written them off last year after squandering a place in the top four. Arteta insisted he never looks that far ahead in football, but the aim is to always be fighting for trophies.
"You go day by day honestly. There is so much that happens in a month in football that you cannot really look. Obviously the aim was to take this football club back where it belongs and that’s fighting and being around every single trophy possible. That’s what we’re trying to do.
"We are where we are. Now we have to finish the job. In order to do that we’re going to have to demand an extra bit from everybody."
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