Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has responded to Thierry Henry over claims his old side have been too emotional recently as they bid to end an almost two-decade wait for a Premier League title.
Henry was part of the Arsenal teams that won the league in 1998 and 2004 under Arsene Wenger, the latter the club's most recent title win. The Gunners have faltered in their last couple of matches, letting two-goal leads slip to West Ham United and Liverpool to draw both games, with Manchester City cutting the deficit from themselves in second to four points.
Arsenal face the prospect of travelling to the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday for a game that is being billed as a potential title-decider. City also have a game-in-hand on Arsenal.
"I don't know when it was that we last won against City, so that's going to be a tough one," Henry said on CBS Sports. "The last game didn't reassure me when we played them at home.
"From the Arsenal point of view, since the beginning of the season, I have been talking about emotions. "You don't win a title on emotions - you win cups - because it's one game, then one game.
"Thirty-eight games - you can't be too emotional about it, but you've seen recently how emotional we've been. So far, we were not expected to be there.
"You still have hope, we're still ahead, Man City still have to win games to get ahead of us. It is still there in front of you, but get rid of the emotional part of the game."
Arteta was asked for his thoughts on Henry's comments and gave a blunt response. "I don’t know, it’s just an opinion," the Spaniard said ahead of his side's game against Southampton on Friday.
The Gunners host the Premier League's bottom side while City have a weekend off Premier League duty with an FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United instead.
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