EPL: Arteta sets players points target for title

Arsenal can only afford to lose three more Premier League games this season if they want to win the title.

That is the view of manager Mikel Arteta, who is setting high standards for his team.

Arteta outlined his view of the team being top of the table going into the busy Christmas period of games.

On a points target for the season, Artetat told reporters: “Do I have a target? Yes. 96-100 I think you win the league. That is the cushion.”

“Do I take encouragement from that? No,” Arteta stated on Manchester City drawing their last three league matches.

“The encouragement comes from watching the team play, watching them behave every day and how hungry and willing they are to approach every training session.

“That’s what gives me encouragement. What the others do is something that we cannot control.”

On the team being better equipped with big money stars such as Declan Rice, he added: “I don’t think about that.

“I think about how we’re going to play better tomorrow and be more consistent and be more difficult to beat and the things that we need to tweak and how we can use our players in the best possible ways to win. It’s still a huge marathon ahead of us.”