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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Malik Ouzia

Arsenal looking good for top four finish but won’t get carried away, says Emile Smith Rowe

Emile Smith Rowe insists Arsenal will not get carried away in the race for fourth, despite making it back-to-back wins since returning from their mid-season break.

Arsenal beat Brentford 2-1 on Saturday, with Bukayo Saka and Smith Rowe firing them to victory, and the win came off the back of defeating Wolves the previous week.

The wins have raised hope that Arsenal could qualify for the Champions League and they are now sixth in the Premier League - level on points with West Ham in fifth and four off Manchester United in fourth, but with three games in hand on both sides.

The Gunners are next in action when they host Wolves on Thursday and Smith Rowe says the squad are keeping their feet on the ground.

“It’s looking good at the moment, but there are a lot of games to go,” he said.

“We are just going to keep focused on that. We are not too worried about the end of the season right now.”

It is feared a lack of goals could dent Arsenal’s top-four hopes, primarily because they allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to leave in January without replacing him.

The pressure is now on the squad to share the burden of finding the net and Smith Rowe has delivered the goods so far this season.

The 21-year-old’s goal on Saturday was his 10th of the campaign and he is currently Arsenal’s top scorer, with his extra finishing sessions after training paying off.

“I am buzzing, the goals are really starting to come now, but the most important thing were the three points,” Smith Rowe said.

“We work so hard in training and after we are always working on our finishing. I feel like it is really starting to show.

“We are scoring goals and I put it down to working hard after training.”

Mikel Arteta has been pleased with the performances of his Arsenal player since they returned from their warm-weather training camp in Dubai.

The squad look refreshed and recharged but Arteta, like Smith Rowe, is refusing to get carried away.

“It’s a long way to go but we are a little bit closer today because we have won our game and that’s what we have to do,” he said.

“We have to go on Thursday again. We need to prepare really well because against Wolves it’s going to be a difficult match.”

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