Arsenal's Premier League title hopes are out of their control at this stage of the season, meaning they rely on Manchester City dropping points with a favour from one of their Premier League rivals. The chances of that happening are running slim, with each game passing by and City find answers.
All Mikel Arteta and his squad can do at this point is keep winning games and put the pressure back on Pep Guardiola for the final few weeks. Victories over Chelsea and Newcastle put them back on track and showed that there's still life in this unlikeliest of Premier League title pushes.
When asked about the importance of the title race and recent wins, Arteta said: "That we are there, that we want to keep digging. The prize is there, not too far. The only thing we can do is keep insisting and not turn our backs and lose focus on something else. Be determined every single day. Let’s keep going and see what happens."
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One of the huge opportunities the Gunners have to close the gap could be this weekend as City make the trip up to Goodison Park to play Everton. The Toffees ran out surprise 5-1 winners over Brighton in their previous match and with the game being sandwiched between two Champions League semi-final ties, it could be the time to face either a much-changed team or a fatigued one.
It gives Guardiola a dilemma as to whether he starts a full-strength side or not to face Sean Dyche, especially given the importance of both ties. That thought process may change as Marca reports that Real Madrid are set to make a whole host of changes to face Getafe this weekend.
Carlo Ancelotti is expected to set a number of squad players to keep his players fresh for the second leg at the Etihad, with the clash finely poised at 1-1. It remains to be seen how that will impact City's team to face Everton, which could turn the Premier League title race on its head once again.
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