Arsenal: Will their poor season-ending performance come back to haunt them?

With the noise around Arsenal trying to win the title and their history under Arteta, the Gunners boss was asked if he needed to ensure his side did not panic and remained focused on the task at hand.

“This is what we have to do,” he said. “I mean, we will be ready and prepared to win every single match, and the only thing we can do is focus on that and raise the level collectively and individually to be better than the opponent every week.

“These are the things we have to do; that’s the most important thing.”

Before Manchester City’s dramatic win against Liverpool on Sunday, it looked as if Arsenal would remain nine points clear.

But after Erling Haaland’s late penalty to secure the three points and their win against Fulham on Wednesday, the gap narrowed to three points and the pressure was back on the Gunners.

Asked whether playing after City was putting new pressure on his team, Arteta said, “I don’t think so. I think we played well after them a few times this season, and we won games.”

Of the 17 games Arsenal have played in the Premier League this season,

The draw at Brentford was only the second time they failed to win, the other being their defeat to Manchester United in January.

Midfielder Declan Rice couldn’t have said it better: “It’s been a rollercoaster of a season.

“You can’t be naive into thinking it’s going to be easy. We’re playing against the best teams week in, week out. We’ve just got to keep moving forward, believing in ourselves, and controlling the ball.

“We have to block out the outside noise. We’ve done that really well. People are going to talk about the title race and Arsenal, but we have a really calm group.”