London [UK], February 14 (ANI): Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said that they don’t have any margin for error in the Premier League or in the Europa League.
Arsenal are at the 11th spot in the Premier League and are getting set to kick off the Europa League knockout stages next week against Benfica.
Arteta feels the coming games are “crucial” for the side and they need to improve their position in the league.
“Yes, it’s going to be crucial. We don’t have any margin now in the league and in the Europa League, they are knockout games. So, the moment you don’t do what you have to, you are out,” Goal.com quoted Arsenal as saying.
“The level of attention and the level of performances are going to be really high and demanding – and we have to face the challenge and go through them. First of all, we have to improve our position in the league – dramatically,” he added.
Arteta insisted that the only way by which they can improve their position in the standings is by winning matches.
“In order to do that we have to win a lot of football matches. How many will depend on what the opponents do because at the moment it’s not in our hands,” the Gunners boss said.
“We need to get into Europe – and into a situation where we can compete for those places – because that’s going to decide which competition we are in next season. Things could change really quickly. If you’d asked me this question after we’d won the last two games, I’d say we had options in both of them. It will now depend on how consistent we are week in, week out,” he added.
Heading into Sunday’s clash with Leeds United, the Gunners are nine points behind the top-four and 22 points behind league-leaders Manchester City. (ANI)