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One of Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta’s favourite tactics ahead of big games is using motivational tools.
He has been known to use tweets from opposition players, something a manager has said, or even, as was the case last season, make his squad watch back Amazon’s fly-on-the-wall documentary and the moment Arsenal blew Champions League qualification in 2021-22.
But Arteta will not need to get creative to motivate his players for Sunday’s game against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium as the stakes could not be higher in what could be a defining game in the title race.
For the first time in a decade, there is a three-way battle for the championship and just one point separates Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City going into Sunday.
Any of them could be top of the table by the end of Easter weekend, with Liverpool hosting Brighton at Anfield earlier in the afternoon.
After a blip around the turn of the year, Arsenal have clicked into gear to win their past eight Premier League games in a row.
But the Etihad has been the scene of many painful moments for Arteta since he was appointed in 2019 and City are out to swing the title momentum back their way.
Arsenal have not won on the blue side of Manchester since 2015, when Arteta was still playing. They have suffered eight straight defeats there, including a 4-1 humbling last season that dealt a huge psychological blow to their title charge.
But the Gunners look a different side to a year ago, and one capable of ending that hoodoo. Arsenal beat City 1-0 at the Emirates Stadium in October, ending a run of 12 consecutive league defeats against Pep Guardiola’s side and breaking through a key psychological barrier.
Sunday’s game will be a true test of how far they have come under Arteta. This team is built around control, but the challenge will be whether they can maintain that level of calm at a ground where they have routinely collapsed.
One of Arteta’s darkest moments at Arsenal came at the Etihad in 2021, when his team were thumped 5-0 and stranded at the bottom of the table. Arsenal stood by Arteta then, and now their first title in 20 years is in touching distance.
City, as they so often do, appear to be peaking as the business end of the season approaches and they head into this game on the back of 22 matches unbeaten in all competitions.
But there is a sense that this City side is not quite the same vintage as the team that won the Treble last season, and Manchester United are the only one of the traditional ‘Big Six’ they have beaten in the league this season.
Liverpool showed in their 1-1 draw at Anfield earlier this month how City can be exposed. That should give Arsenal heart and they have been further boosted with City without both Kyle Walker and John Stones.
The absence of Walker is a huge blow for City, given the pace he brings to their defence, particularly if Arsenal winger Gabriel Martinelli can recover from a foot injury.
Bukayo Saka is hoping to play after pulling out of the England squad last week with a minor muscle issue. Arsenal will use him to target the fact that City do not have a natural left-back, with Nathan Ake most likely to be deployed there.
Arsenal are built around control, but the challenge will be whether they can maintain that level of calm at a ground where they have routinely collapsed
Most important for Arsenal, however, is that centre-back Gabriel is fit. Erling Haaland bullied Arsenal last season when they were without their first-choice pair of Gabriel and William Saliba.
On that occasion, it was Saliba who missed out and Rob Holding was tormented in what would prove to be his last-ever start in an Arsenal shirt. When the Gunners beat City earlier this season, Gabriel and Saliba worked in tandem to double up on Haaland.
It was around this time last year that Arsenal’s season unravelled as injuries took their toll, and they cannot afford to let history repeat itself. Injuries aside, Arsenal should be fresh for Sunday.
They will have had 19 days without a game and those players not on international duty were given time off by Arteta, who himself went to Spain.
During his time at Arsenal, Arteta has made a habit of breaking hoodoos. In 2020, he helped the Gunners end their 14-year wait for a Premier League victory at Old Trafford. Last season, they won at Tottenham in the league for the first time since 2014. The Etihad is next on his list.
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