Mikel Arteta says fear is Arsenal’s “worst enemy” in Premier League title race

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta said his side could get a psychological boost for its Premier League campaign by beating Liverpool and extending its lead over the Merseyside club to 14 points when the two clash on Sunday.

Arsenal, which has won seven of eight games, goes into the weekend 11 points clear of Liverpool, which is ninth with just two wins from seven matches ahead of the game at the Emirates Stadium.
“The moment you get momentum and you are on a good run, and you can leave an opponent as far (behind) as possible, psychologically also it is very important,” Arteta told reporters on Friday.

Arteta urged his players to be fearless on the pitch, pointing to their performance in a 3-1 win over north London rival Tottenham Hotspur in their last league game.

“To win those matches, you really need to believe you can go there, win and compete against those teams and if you don’t have that component, then you have fear,” Arteta added.

“Fear is the worst enemy, especially against the top teams, because this is what they use a lot of the time just to win football matches. You cannot go with any of that into Sunday’s game, the same as we didn’t when we played Spurs.”