William Saliba sets Arsenal challenge in Premier League title race

Arsenal defender William Saliba has challenged the Gunners to not drop any more points if they are to end a 20-year wait for the Premier League title this season.

Mikel Arteta's side are top of the table with five games left to play, ahead of Liverpool on goal difference alone and one point in front of Manchester City, who have a game in hand.

That extra game for City means that Arsenal's destiny is not in their own hands, but Saliba has urged his teammates to apply as much "pressure" as possible by winning all of their remaining fixtures.

"Of course, anything can happen in the last five games," the Frenchman said.

"If we want something at the end we have to win. It will be very tough because we are so close to Liverpool and City but we started well [against Wolves on Saturday] and have to keep going.

"If we want to put pressure on, we have to win, to win and keep going like this. We know it will be hard but we are prepared."

Arsenal set an unwanted Premier League record last season as the club to have spent the most time in first place without actually winning the title – 248 days, to be precise – before City swept past.

The damage a year ago was done by three successive draws in April, followed by a heavy defeat against City at the Etihad Stadium, after which Arsenal slipped into second and never recovered.

Saliba, then in his first proper season with the Gunners after several years developing out on loan, had been a revelation but crucially missed the whole of April and May with a troublesome back problem that proved catastrophic to the team that began shipping goals in his absence.

The 23-year-old has been a rock once more in 2023/24 and will hope the winning end to the season continues with Tuesday's visit of Chelsea. Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth, Manchester United and Everton are then on the calendar, with the Premier League now all that is left for Arsenal to play for.

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