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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dan Kilpatrick

Mikel Arteta: Why Arsenal have hope of a Tottenham favour against Man City

Mikel Arteta says Arsenal have "opened a box of dreams" by taking the title race to the final day with a gritty 1-0 win over Manchester United, and hopes rivals Tottenham can do them a favour on Tuesday night.

Leandro Trossard's first-half tap-in settled a cagey, low-quality affair at Old Trafford and moved Arsenal a point ahead of Manchester City, who visit Spurs mid-week in their game-in-hand.

If City beat Ange Postecoglou's side, they will have a fourth consecutive title in their hands on Sunday, when Arsenal host Everton and the champions entertain West Ham United.

Arteta was delighted at ensuring the title will go down to the wire but knows Arsenal will likely need help from Spurs.

"They’re all buzzing there. We really wanted to live that moment. We said ‘now we have to earn the right to go to the last day and live that moment’," Arteta said.

"That’s part of our journey to have a big chance of winning the Premier League. We wanted to experience that. We’re going to have a normal preparation week to try to be in the best space to compete and beat Everton and then live the occasion as well.

"My experience in this league is that any team can beat any team. I lived it various scenarios in the last day when a lot of teams have necessities.

"The margin of respect that everybody puts in the games is phenomenal. We know we need a result.

"We need to do our own thing still in the last game. But today, we wanted to open that box of dreams to live the last day of the season in front of our people with the opportunity to win the Premier League. That’s something we’re going to live together and I’m so pleased we’re gonna do it with these players and staff.

"We know we need [Spurs to take points off City]. They are a really difficult team to play against. We suffered that a few weeks ago when we played them. So hopefully they can do it."

Arsenal's 27th League win of the season is a new club record in the Premier League while they have also scored more goals than any previous campaign, with Trossard's close-range finish from Kai Havertz's cross the 89th.

"Winning I think encourages you to win more and to be better equipped and better prepared and have more confidence to win in different contexts and grind results in different ways," Arteta added.

"Somebody told me it’s 27 wins in the Premier League. It’s the most in the history of this club in 130 years. That’s not progress, that’s history. That’s very difficult to do, especially in the league where we are playing now. Big compliment to all the players and staff for what they’ve done."

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