Arsenal ‘highly motivated’ for title battle

Arsenal are "highly motivated" to compete with Manchester City in the Premier League title race, manager Mikel Arteta said on Friday after his side slipped to second in the standings following their midweek 3-1 defeat to Pep Guardiola's team.

Arsenal lost the top spot, which they had held since August, to their opponents on goal difference with both teams tied on 51 points.

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Arteta's side, though, have a game in hand and travel on Saturday to face Aston Villa, who are managed by former Arsenal manager Unai Emery.

"I know the right things we have to do to continue to be there (at the top)," Arteta told reporters. "We have seen where the level is and what we have to do to be at that level.

"There are a lot of positive things to take from the season so far. We know that the level of efficiency has to be good with every single game to beat them (City) at the end. We are highly motivated to do that."

Arteta urged his side to be more efficient after they picked up only one point in their last three league games.

"With the amount of play and situations we generated we haven't had enough points. That is down to us, we have to improve on that because we want to win more games.

Arteta has also urged the Premier League to offer clubs protection from being forced to kick off early on Saturday after playing on Wednesday evening.

Premier League teams competing in the Champions League are not scheduled in the 1230 GMT slot on Saturdays if they played in Europe the previous Wednesday.

However, Arsenal face Aston Villa in a crucial Premier League fixture on Saturday morning, just 63 hours after the full-time whistle blew in their defeat against Manchester City.

While it is too late to help Arsenal on this occasion, Arteta wants the Premier League fixture schedule changed in future to offer protection to all clubs, rather than just those in the Champions League.

"There are certain rules with the Champions League. When you are playing on Wednesday night and then you cannot play (on Saturday lunchtime). So I think that should apply to any competition," Arteta told reporters on Friday.