Mikel Arteta: Liverpool deserve Arsenal guard of honour | OneFootball

With second place up for grabs and Liverpool already crowned, Arsenal face a high-stakes trip to Anfield, for the Gunners, at least.

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Mikel Arteta says Arsenal will give Liverpool a guard of honour at Anfield on Sunday because it is what they deserve. The Premier League rules do not require it. The gesture is voluntary. Arsenal are doing it because the club believes in what it represents.

“They deserve that,” Arteta said when asked about it. “They’ve been the best team, they’ve been the most consistent, and what Arne and the coaching staff have done has been fascinating, it’s been really good. They fully deserve it, and that’s the sport. If somebody’s better, you have to approve and accept and try to reach that level.”

Arteta is still focused on the job in front of him and although Arsenal cannot win the league, they can still finish second. They are not treating the final weeks as holiday time.

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“That’s how we felt [that we wanted to consolidate second place] in the manner that we went out [of the Champions League], we’re very, very proud, but make sure that we finish the season in the same way. You cannot win the Premier League, that’s clear, but the last 16 days that we have with three games to go, make sure that we make ourselves proud at least to compete and end in the manner that we deserve.”

Despite Arsenal getting knocked out of the Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain in midweek, Arteta is not speaking like a beaten man. He is pointing to the numbers. And the margins.

“We are there, because with the amount of points that we have generated in the last few seasons, we could have two Premier Leagues. So we know how close we are, we are providing the numbers that win you titles. We have to be a little bit luckier, but still do better to make sure that nobody has a season better than you. In the Champions League, with those numbers, you have a big probability of winning. That’s why a lot of people were thinking that we’d go all the way.

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“There are many factors we need to judge and go our way in that decision. In that clinical moment, the ball goes to the post, out, in, that’s the fine margins. So I think what we have to try to do is to amplify the margins. The bigger the margins are, even if those things happen, then it will be very difficult for the opposition.”

Arteta is not interested in turning this into a message for next season. It is not about making a statement. It is about finishing the job.

“It’s about this season, it’s about the amount of points that are still available to win at the end, and finishing in the position that we want and we have to do that.”

Arsenal are unbeaten in their last five Premier League games against Liverpool. But they have not won at Anfield since 2012. Liverpool, having already secured the title, lost 3-1 at Chelsea last week. Only two teams have ever lost both games after winning the title early. Arsenal in 1998. Chelsea in 2006.

The guard of honour will come before the game. It will hopefully not define it.