Mikel Arteta has perfect Arsenal dressing room speech prepared for Etihad after Man City comment

Arsenal are set to face Manchester City later this month and Mikel Arteta has been given an extra way to motivate his squad against their rivals in the Premier League title race

Kyle Walker has offered Arsenal extra motivation ahead of the club’s clash with Manchester City. The two sides are set to face off in a potentially pivotal game in the title race at the end of the month.

The Gunners have been in superb league form since the start of the year, recording seven consecutive victories, scoring a total of 31 goals and conceding just three. Arsenal could end the weekend top of the table with a win over Brentford, as Liverpool and Man City face off at Anfield the following day.

Supporters could be forgiven for already having one eye on the team’s upcoming game with Man City on Sunday, March 31. Arsenal boss Arteta may also have part of his pre-match speech planned after Man City defender Kyle Walker shared his thoughts on the Gunners.

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Speaking to Arsenal fan Joel Beya on Rio Ferdinand’s FIVE YouTube Channel, Walker said: "I think you’ve taken our assistant coach as your manager. You've got Zinchenko that is a very big part of it, and Gabi. But I'll give you credit, it's a very good team now. Very good team.”

Reminded of Arsenal’s win over Man City in October, Walker added: “The better team won on the day. Do you remember the last time they came to the Etihad? Come to the Etihad we’ll see.”

The same fixture last season ended in a 4-1 defeat for Arsenal and swung the title race firmly in Man City’s favour. However, Arteta may well use Walker’s comments as a means to fire up his players.

It would not be the first time that Arteta has used words from opposition players to inspire his squad. The All or Nothing: Arsenal documentary captured Arteta bringing up a tweet from Ivan Toney ahead of his side avenging their opening defeat to Brentford in the 2021/22 campaign.

“Before I go, because it’s still in my stomach and I have managed to keep it for four, five months,” Arteta said. “This is Toney after the game when we played at Brentford, you know this tweet: ‘Nice kick about with the boys’.

“Today, they play in our house. There’s only one team on that f****** pitch today and it’s us. It’s like they don’t play football, we take that f****** ball, we take the game and go for it. Let’s f****** win this game, let’s go.”

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