Soccer

Mikel Merino says Arsenal not thinking about title as winless run continues

The Gunners are now nine points behind leaders Liverpool after being held to a 1-1 draw by Chelsea.

Mikel Merino’s Arsenal have fallen further adrift of leaders Liverpool
Mikel Merino’s Arsenal have fallen further adrift of leaders Liverpool (Adam Davy/PA)
By Robert O'Connor, PA

Mikel Merino said Arsenal are not thinking about the Premier League title after falling nine points behind leaders Liverpool.

Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge saw Mikel Arteta’s side lose further ground at the top as their winless run in the league extended to four matches.

Runners-up in each of the last two seasons, the team had been tipped to go one better and end a 21-year wait to be crowned champions but those odds have lengthened by the week since last tasting a victory on October 5.

A second-half rocket from Chelsea’s Pedro Neto cancelled out Gabriel Martinelli’s opener to leave little margin for error when the league resumes after the international break.

“Personally I don’t think about the title,” said Merino, a second-half replacement for Declan Rice who played despite suffering from a broken toe.

“Right now we’re at a moment where we have to think about the next step, the next training session, the next game and don’t look too much ahead of ourselves.

“The small steps are the ones that are going to build the long run.”

Arsenal have already dropped 14 points this season from their 11 matches, the same number that Manchester City dropped in the whole of their title-winning season in 2017/18.

Pedro Neto’s second-half rocket denied Arsenal victory at Stamford Bridge
Pedro Neto’s second-half rocket denied Arsenal victory at Stamford Bridge (John Walton/PA)

At least 90 points has been required to be crowned champions in six of the least eight campaigns, though recent history gives reason for optimism for the ailing Gunners.

Last season a mid-winter crash that brought back-to-back defeats against West Ham and Fulham was followed by an electric run in which they won 16 of their final 18 games from January onwards.

The fact that even that scintillating sequence proved insufficient to wrestle the title away from City demonstrates the scale of the task ahead, but Merino was upbeat.

“I’m a positive person and I hope for the future that results are coming and this team will grow,” he said.

“We don’t have to look at the negatives, we have to look at the positives, we have to look at ourselves and how we want to perform, not start thinking about what’s going to happen if we lose. That’s adding extra pressure.

“We know we have to win every game. We want that and we have to work for that. We have to focus on the present and on ourselves.”

Reason for cheer came in the shape of returning captain Martin Odegaard, starting for the first time since August after recovering from an ankle injury, and it was his vision and delivery that picked out Martinelli for Arsenal’s goal.

“It’s always tough when you’re missing players like Martin Odegaard,” said Merino. “He’s the captain, he’s one of our main players. When we have him we are a better team.

“He’ll need some time to get back to his best level even though he’s one of the best in the Premier League, but the teams needs every single player healthy, not only Martin being back to a hundred per cent.”