Mikel Arteta on Arsenal being relegated: 'We have to be careful'
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has conceded that his side 'must be careful' of the threat of relegation after going eight games without a win in the Premier League.
The Gunners are on a miserable run of form at the moment, culminating in a desperate 2-1 loss at Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Rather than looking upwards in the direction of the Champions League places, Arsenal find themselves looking over their shoulder and speaking at today's press conference ahead of their Carabao Cup match with Manchester City, he conceded his team are in a dangerous spot.
He said: "When you are in this position and you have the points we have at the moment we have to look and be careful. Because we haven't been a lot of time in this position.
"Within the club my feeling is just support, encouragement and total confidence we're going to get through this together."
Arteta also touched on the recent matches his team faced and believes that they have been unlucky and that things should turn around for them soon enough.
He continued: "When you look at the perspective how we are losing football matches, it's pretty incredible. Last year against Everton we won the game with 25 per cent chance of winning, supported by the stats. We won 3-2.
"Last weekend it was 67 per cent chance of winning any Premier League in history, and nine percent of losing - and you lose. you lose. 3 per cent against Burnley and you lose, 7 per cent against Spurs and you lose.
"There is something else apart from that that has to go our way and at the moment it doesn't. Saying that it doesn't care because you lose and the only thing that cares and you lose the match and that's why we're here."
Arteta also referenced Arsenal's young players which have been making their way into the first-team setup of late, and discussed that they will have to deal with the pressure on them in order to succeed at the club.
He stated: "It's part of what they have to do and what they have to go through to become really important players for this football club. You have to see how people react around them in difficult moments.
"They have to experience themselves to get through this difficult moments and how they are going to handle the pressure. If they're able to do that they will have to handle good moments and how the handle bad, to continue performing at the level that is required here."