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arsenal ahead bukayo saka Insists they are paying little attention to Manchester City’s pursuit after securing top spot for the Christmas season for the third time in four years.
Pep Guardiola’s side saw their replacement Premier League Leaders Gunners restore their two-point advantage with 1-0 win everton a few hours later.
Full-strength opposition would have posed more of a challenge, but the home team was significantly weaker and this reduced any pressure exerted by their title rivals as Arsenal did not need to be at their best to win.
“There were no emotions really, we let them out. We focus on our job,” Saka told Sky Sports.
“Last week we focused on winning here and we did that. We’re back at the top of the table but we’re not looking too closely at City.
“We know if we win every week we’re going to be right there. We’re in control.”
Maintaining that control is the challenge ahead as they have topped Arsenal at Christmas on four occasions in Premier League history, but have failed to convert that into title success.
Manager Mikel Arteta knows there are still improvements to be made and he will have to push to take advantage in games like the one at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Victor Gyökeres scored for the first time in six matches with a first-half penalty following an uncleared handball by Jake O’Brien but leandro trossard And Martin Zubimendi (who both hit a post) and Saka (denied by a James Tarkowski goal-line clearance) could have made things more comfortable.
“You have to dominate the pace of the game. To do that, you have to understand what the game requires, when you have to play really fast and when you have to slow the game down,” Arteta said.
“If you provoke the things you want to provoke with the ball, that’s fine, but there are times when you have to be sharper, more aggressive.
“The more we push, the higher it will be and the bigger the margins will be. That’s what we have to try to do. It’s something we can improve on.”
“Against Wolves (last weekend) we made too many entrances into the box and when we reviewed the match, the number of situations we had, there was overload in the box, the ball didn’t come in the right place.
“You hit the post twice with players who normally put the ball in the net when they’re in that position. We’ve got to keep trying, we’ve got to keep going.
“Again, the margin should have been bigger but that’s what we have to learn when we are winning.”