Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta responds to Bukayo Saka demand with timely reminder

Arsenal face Southampton on Saturday looking for another Premier League victory, with Bukayo Saka this week insisting there's no more excuses, now they need to win major trophies

Mikel Arteta doesn’t mind Bukayo Saka talking up Arsenal’s title chances - even when their bogey team is coming to town.

After the Gunners’ Champions League win against Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, England winger Saka felt emboldened enough to proclaim “this is the year” for Arsenal to land the holy grail after a 21-year wait since the Invincibles.

Normally Arteta would run mile from title talk, especially just six fences into a 38-game steeplechase. But acting captain Saka was given free licence by his manager to whisper the odds from the rooftops (he never shouts where hushed tones are available) because it’s a sign of Arsenal’s growing belief that their time is now.

Arteta said: "They are free to talk about it and express their feelings, and if they believe that is the case then great, as belief is the first thing you need to achieve any dream or whatever you want to achieve in life. What I can say is we have only played six games and we are very far from it.”

Arsenal’s 15-match unbeaten run in all competitions is Arteta’s longest streak without defeat as a manager, but few opponents bring out the Bermuda Triangle in the Gunners quite like Southampton.

Mysteriously, Arteta has won only two of his last seven meetings with Saints, including a traumatic 3-3 draw on the run-in 18 months ago which virtually slammed the door on their title challenge despite leading the table for 248 days that season.

No club has spent so long at the summit without breasting the tape - but nobody loves to pull the plug on the ghettoblaster at a party in north London more than Saints. That madcap six-goal thriller began with Aaron Ramsdale's ghastly error presenting Saints with the lead after just 28 seconds.

Image: Getty Images) Getty Images)

This afternoon Ramsdale will be in the enemy camp after losing the No.1 slot to David Raya, but Arteta hopes there will be no hard feelings.

“I am grateful for what he did for us,” said the Gunners boss. “When we signed him, there was a lot of noise around him but we helped to create the environment he needed because we believed in his potential.

"He showed it and won the respect and admiration of all of us - and then the circumstances changed because this is elite sport and it can happen. Then it was difficult to deal with that situation in a natural way and we decided to part ways. Hopefully he is grateful as well.”

Arsenal have won only two of their last seven encounters with the halos which fit like a crown one week and a noose the next, and Arteta admitted: “We have conceded some very sloppy goals in those games, and we haven’t been consistent enough games against them like we should have.

“I think we also deserved better results in some of the games, but not all of them. We know the significance of this match. Last week (a 4-2 win against Leicester after scoring twice in stoppage time) it proved the tough schedule that we have.

“Even when you think the game is under control, it can get out of hand immediately. We know the quality of Southampton - they are extremely well coached, they have a clear philosophy and they’ve been very unlucky not to have many more points."

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