Mikel Arteta has predicted a tough test against Bournemouth, but believes Arsenal are ready for battle and prepared to claim maximum points in the encounter.
The Gunners face the Cherries for the first time this season at the Vitality Stadium, hoping for a win to increase their gap at the top of the league standings.
The North London side lost both legs of this fixture in the league last season, suffering a 2-0 loss away before also losing 2-1 at the Emirates un the reverse fixture.
“Obviously we know how important it is to maintain your 11 players on the pitch as much as possible. We failed to do that last year, we lost both games against them [Bournemouth] and we know the difficulty of that”, Arteta said ahead of the match.
“We know how good of a team they are. How they can threaten you from every angle, so we know the difficulty of the game tomorrow. It’s where we are and we can only be happy in the position where we are. It can always be better.
There are always things we can improve, obviously. The only thing we look at is Bournemouth in the next game. We know how tough it is for every opponent to beat them”, he continued.
Arsenal currently hold a four-point gap over second-placed Manchester City, who were held on a goalless draw at Sunderland yesterday.
The Gunners could increase their lead to seven points tomorrow ahead of the Cityzens clash with managerless Chelsea on Sunday.
Mikel Arteta also provided fitness updates regarding certain members of the squad during his prematch press conference.
“Obviously we haven’t trained yet so today is going to be the first training session properly with the players who started against Villa, so we will know more this afternoon.”
Arsenal head to Bournemouth for a match-day 20 clash, hoping for a win to boost their chances of lifting a long-awaited Premier League title.
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