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Arsenal must not take anything for granted in their bid to qualify for the Champions League, according to Mikel Arteta.
The Gunners face Watford this weekend and sit sixth in the table, but with three games in hand over both Manchester United and West Ham.
Coupled with a more favourable run-in, on paper at least, Arsenal are arguably the favourites to seal a top-four berth come the end of the season.
However, Arteta has stressed his team will take it step-by-step.
“I think it’s positive because that’s where we want to be playing,” Arteta told his pre-match press conference on Friday. “The reality is we are not fourth but sixth still.
“We have to win those games. We know what we have to do. There’s a long way to go and the only aim is to win against Watford.”
Since losing consecutive games against United and Everton at the start of December, Arsenal have dropped only five points over their last nine games in the Premier League.
It has been a feat bolstered by the impressive performances of Ben White, with the defender shrugging off his reported £50million price tag to emerge as the backbone of the Gunners defence.
Arteta had nothing but praise for the England international, saying: “I think what he’s done, how quickly he’s adapted, how he’s handled the pressure of the price we paid and what we demand him to do at his age is very impressive.”
White will hope to help steer Arsenal to yet another victory over Watford, with the Hornets having taken just seven points across 15 Premier League meetings with them over the years.
Arteta’s opposite number Roy Hodgson meanwhile was won only one of his last dozen matches against the Gunners, way back in 2008 when he was in charge of Fulham.
