Leandro Trossard has admitted that Arsenal have nobody to blame but themselves for surrendering the lead in the race for the Premier League title. The Gunners had led the way for the majority of the season but a run of four games without a win, culminating in a 4-1 thrashing against Manchester City, has derailed their bid. Arsenal got back on track with a convincing 3-1 win over Chelsea in midweek, but now rely on favours from elsewhere. Trossard, who has proven to be a shrewd January signing by Mikel Arteta, is likely to feature on Sunday as the Gunners face a daunting must-win fixture against in-form Newcastle at St James’ Park.
When asked for his thoughts on the title race, Trossard told Sky Sports: ‘We knew [City] would come close and it’s all about us I think. Obviously, it’s not in our hands anymore but before it was just looking at ourselves. If we would have won all those games, it would be a different story of course. But we gave them that a little bit to come back into the race and obviously now they are ahead of us. When you are competing on the highest level they’re a top side as well, they show it every year. But I think it’s down to us to be at this level as well to make it really hard for them as well I think. Like I said, we’ll see.’
Newcastle ended the Gunners’ top four hopes in the penultimate game of last season but Arteta denied that revenge will be a motivating factor tomorrow. Speaking at his pre-match press conference, he said: ‘It is a very different game. It was a year ago with different players, a different game but we’ll have to play much better than we did last year, that’s for sure. We know that it is going to be a really tough game because especially at home they’ve been really good. We’ve had a few, but that was a game that we deserved to win. We didn’t at the end but they are a really good side who are well coached and have really good players and the right environment around the club right now, so they are in a good place.’