Mikel Arteta: People have been waiting for Arsenal to fail

Mikel Arteta insists that Arsenal are determined to prove their critics wrong by continuing to fight for three trophies this season.

The Gunners let their lead at the top of the Premier League table slip and are now a point behind second-placed Chelsea.

We’ve worked really hard up until now to stay in the position we are in and to be all in all competitions

Mikel Arteta

The north Londoners face Bayern Munich in the Champions League last 16 and host Liverpool in the FA Cup fifth round on Sunday.

And Arteta has issued a rallying cry ahead of a crucial run of games that is likely to define Arsenal’s season.

“Some people have been waiting for us to crash and when you crash obviously you’re going to get headlines on that, but we know where we are,” Arsenal told Arsenal Player.

“I think we’ve worked really hard up until now to stay in the position we are in and to be all in all competitions. We want to maintain that and again on Sunday we’ve got a great opportunity to go through in the cup and into the next round.

“I think we can’t afford to have any breaks between the squad, manager, directors and the supporters. I think the fans have been terrific through the year, I think they’ve been really helpful and players really appreciate that.

“[If] we can keep that atmosphere at the Emirates it’s going to be crucial, in my opinion, because we are really strong at home.

“We have a great chance to win something this year so we need to stick together, accept that sometimes things are not going to go well over a period of 45 or 50 games and just value that the team is trying very hard and doing the best we can.”