Mikel Arteta has warned Arsenal are out for “revenge” after their title race wobble.
Arsenal are in danger of losing the initiative to Manchester City after surrendering two-goal leads and dropping four valuable points in back-to-back draws with Liverpool and West Ham.
That has seen City become red-hot favourites and Arteta is convinced that his players will react strongly against Southampton after being written off following their recent setbacks.
Gunners boss Arteta said: “I see a sense of revenge and determination to get it even better and that it’s not enough and you have to tweak it and demand more and more of each other.
“You can tell from the way they talked, the way they communicated in the meetings we had. The discussions to understand how we move forward after that.
“It was all the right answers – they were very clear on what we want, how we’re going to do it and why it’s taken us all the way here. That’s what we have to continue.
“We have to be perfectionists but at the same time we have to play with that flow. We are really good when we play with that energy and flow and don’t be thinking about the results. That’s the last thing that we have to do.
“Twists and turns are part of everything that you do especially in football. It’s not always going to be a linear progression. You have to know that and you have to be prepared for that.
“But the way the team reacted was incredibly positive and we want to see that against Southampton when we get onto that field.”
Incredibly, Arsenal have the chance to take a SEVEN POINT lead over City before their title crunch next Wednesday.
Arsenal would have played two games more but, with City’s own games and injuries mounting, it might just change the mood and give them confidence before their trip to the Etihad.
But the setbacks have brought accusations of Arsenal “bottling” the title race and even Gunners legend Thierry Henry said that they had become “too emotional.”
However, Arteta insists his players will not listen to outside noises and they have “full faith” in being able to see the job through.
Arteta said: “These are opinions and we have to respect that. When you set the standards and expectations, you have to maintain them. To win every single game in the Premier League is extremely difficult.
“It’s not like you lost five games in the last six and are in this situation, you draw two matches and play two very difficult fixtures away from home but when you are there everybody expects you to win.
“The necessity to win the Premier League is you have to win almost every single game. That’s the demands and you have to accept that.
“What we can say is that our players have full faith in what they do. We know that what is at stake is incredibly beautiful.
“The best way to do it is continue to do what we want to do every single day. We must play really well, play with our crowd, create an incredible atmosphere and win that game.”
Arteta also revealed that his players are fully focused on Southampton - and are not thinking about the title showdown with City.
Arteta added: “That’s the conversation that we had the other day and nobody’s talking about what’s gonna happen next Wednesday. We have to become really boring to everybody and be really repetitive and just focus on what we have to do this morning. That’s it.”
