Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta urges his team to put emotion aside when they face Man City | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta says his Arsenal players must not get caught up in the emotion of the game when they take on Manchester City on Sunday.

Arsenal face Manchester City after a controversial reverse fixture, where Arsenal’s approach prompted a response from City striker Haaland.

Tensions boiled over after City’s late equaliser when Haaland threw the ball at Gabriel’s head and later told Arteta to “stay humble” after the game.

Arteta claims he does not hold any grudges and hopes his players will feel the same. “Holding anything negative or emotional doesn’t help, it’s part of the competition it’s part of the game.”

“I don’t take anything personally what happens on the pitch for me. And since I’ve been a player it started there.”

Accusations of being over-emotional have been a running theme for Arsenal this season, with the club recently charged by the FA for failing to control their players, following the controversial sending off of Miles Lewis-Skelly in their 1-0 victory over Wolves.

When probed on whether he felt these charges were just, Arteta responded: “No, because these are the rules and they are entitled to do that.

Many Arsenal fans believe they have felt the brunt of refereeing decisions this season.

In response to questions on whether referees provided fair treatment towards his side Arteta replied: “For sure, but this does not mean that we cannot defend our opinions and give our views in a respectful way.

“This is what we do with the right channels and the right communications, and I will continue to go forward because a lot of the time the communication has been there to give very positive feedback about things that we can change to make it better.”