Jurrien Timber has warned his Arsenal teammates they can not afford to repeat the ‘unnecessary mistake’ they made in yesterday’s win over Chelsea in the event that they hope to finish a 22-year wait to be crowned Premier League champions.
The Gunners opened up a five point lead at the highest over Manchester City, albeit having played a game more, following Sunday’s fraught win over 10-man Chelsea.
Timber’s 66th minute header from Declan Rice’s corner put Mikel Arteta’s side on target for 3 points on Sunday and their position was strengthened by the sending off of Pedro Neto shortly afterwards.
Despite that advantage, the closing stages were anything but comfortable with David Raya forced to make an excellent save to stop Alejandro Garnacho from equalising, before Liam Delap’s effort was ruled out for off-side.
Arsenal have shown a propensity to shoot themselves within the foot in recent weeks, particularly in a dangerous 2-2 draw at Wolves, while additionally they gave up leads within the recent games against Brentford and Manchester United.
‘You are feeling it, especially at the tip,” said Timber after Arsenal clung on for a much-needed win.
‘We stopped playing a bit [against Chelsea], which was unnecessary – especially with a person up. It’s something we want to work on, speak about as well.
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‘It happened a few times this season already. We put a lot effort into the sport, especially in the primary half, and you could have to go up 1-0 or 2-0, but this stuff occur – especially like a superb team against Chelsea.
‘It’s a part of the sport, you could have to grasp what happens within the moment. The energy inside the players and the gang, the anxiety. It’s something we want to deal with and speak about.’
But Timber says Arsenal cannot start pondering that the title is any closer despite there being nine games to go.
Who will win the Premier League
‘I heard it was nine games to go nevertheless it still feels to date off because we’re playing in Champions League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup,’ he added.
‘Game by game. If we glance to far ahead, it becomes a bit a bit an excessive amount of.’
Arteta, meanwhile, admitted his ‘heart almost stopped’ as Arsenal rode their luck within the closing stages.
The Arsenal boss said: ‘The save that he (Raya) made within the last motion, from what ended up being an unbelievable shot, I got the proper angle and my heart almost stopped. But David’s hand was there to bring it back to life.
‘I attempt to stay calm, but obviously, we weren’t getting the dominance and the sequences of play that we wanted and would expect against 10 men.
‘You may have to navigate through that, and it’s an enormous a part of the sport. Everybody’s suffering since the margins are so small.’
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