Mikel Arteta has praised Manchester City, calling them the best side in Europe.
The Manchester based club are now clear leaders at the top of the table after an unbeaten run of 16 games.
Despite some key injuries, they have managed to find their way back to the top of the table after starting the season poorly.
Ahead of tomorrow’s clash, the manager admits that the team faces a huge challenge.
“I think they are the best team in Europe at the moment,” he told Arsenal.com.
“The way they’re performing, the football they’re playing and their consistent results.
“What they’ve done is react to difficult moments. A big team has to be able to do that. When everyone was doubting their ability to be able to compete again and be the team that they are, they reacted in a really convincing way, all united, doing what they do best and being very consistent by winning games very comfortably.
“They have weaknesses like every team but at the moment teams have struggled a lot to find any of them. First of all, defensively they’ve been really, really strong. They are without a doubt the best team at the moment. We have a big and a very exciting challenge ahead of us on Sunday.”
We are currently 10th on the table and the qualification battle for Europe grows tougher by the week.
The next five weeks features tough fixtures as we have big encounters against Leicester, Burnley, Sp*rs, West Ham and Liverpool.
Mikel Arteta knows the importance of thjese fixtures.
“That’s when we will define our season, if we are able to close the gaps in those games with them,” he said.
“It’s going to create some momentum for us and we’re going to get closer to them. We know that the margins for error are minimal with the season that we’ve had in previous months, so we need to kick on.
“We want to be us. It doesn’t matter who we play. I want to see a team that plays with the character and personality that we have shown in recent months. I want us to keep continue maintaining that line.
“If we do that, we will cause problems to any team. But we need to do that from the beginning. We obviously want to show other teams respect but still be true to ourselves.”
