Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal have to beat Chelsea to keep their Premier League top-four hopes alive.
The Gunners travel to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night looking to close a 10-point gap to the Blues, who sit in fourth place despite losing at Newcastle last weekend.
Frank Lampard’s side won the reverse fixture against Arsenal last month and Arteta warned another defeat would severely hamper their quest to return to Champions League football for the first time since 2016-17.
“It's very, very important for us to win this game to fight for that,” he said. “Also, the game we played at home, it could have made a big difference and we were very close to it. Tomorrow we need to win.
“Everyone is having a lot of problems to put together back-to-back wins, the league has been very competitive this season and that is why the gaps aren't that big.
"There are still four months to play and a lot of things can happen, a lot of games between the top teams as well so I think that will change.
“For me the only way to do it is to work every single day to improve those players and to make them feel comfortable on the pitch and with the ideas that we are putting together. Get every performance as good as we can, and that will take us as closer to every game.
"To look further than that is difficult and unrealistic.”
