Mikel Arteta threatens to ‘kill’ Arsenal players ahead of Man City showdown

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has warned that he will ‘kill’ any of his players that feel intimidated by their Premier League title showdown with Manchester City.

The Gunners travel to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night sitting five points clear of their hosts at the top of the table, though having played two games more and with arguably a harder run-in.

Arteta’s men head north having drawn their last three games, losing a considerable amount of momentum at the worst possible time.

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The Spaniard was asked at his pre-match press conference if it was possible that his players could be intimidated by such a huge occasion.

“No. And if they do, I will just say: ‘I will kill them.’ And I don’t want that at all,” Arteta replied.

“Yeah, it’s going to be a tough night and challenge but the opportunity is incredible for us. We knew from the beginning, if you want to win a Premier League, you have to go to Spurs and beat them. You have to go to Chelsea and you have to beat them. You have to go away from home and win. This is what we’ve been doing. This is why we’re here.

“Now you have to go to City and you have to beat them. If you want to be champions you have to win those matches. It’s as simple as that.”

Arsenal have beaten Man City just twice since Pep Guardiola moved to England, and never in the Premier League.

Man City have won seven games in a row against the Gunners since their last defeat to Arteta’s side, with a couple of those victories garnering considerable winning margins.

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On this edition of The Chronicles of a Gooner, part of the 90min podcast network, Harry Symeou is joined by Kolo Toure to preview Arsenal’s Premier League title decider with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium.

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!