Arsenal: Mikel Arteta reveals secret that has fuelled Premier League title charge | OneFootball

Gunners out to consolidate top spot in Chelsea showdown

Togetherness: Mikel Arteta

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Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal's team spirit will stand them in good stead heading into the crunch period of the season.

For the first time since Christmas, the Gunners have enjoyed a midweek without a fixture as they prepare to face Chelsea on Sunday.

Manchester City also had an eased schedule and Pep Guardiola urged his players to jet off and drink cocktails to recharge their batteries.

Arteta decided against flying the squad out somewhere, even though the option to go to Dubai was tempting, but gave the players time off earlier in the week.

He pointed to the fact many still opted to enjoy each other's company as a further sign of just how tight-knit this Arsenal squad is.

"I wish we could be in Dubai," Arteta said.

"But then you get very surprised as sometimes when I give them the day off and you think they don't want to see each other, and then I find out that eight or ten players were having dinner in somebody’s house or spent the whole afternoon together.

"That is the beauty of it, the fact that they want to be together as they feel that being together is the best thing they can do. That was the case this week as well in a lot of cases."

Arsenal have previously held barbecues for the players and their families when the fixture list has eased.

However, asked if there was a repeat of that this week, Arteta said: “In this weather? We only have one day Wednesday, it was. No barbecue. But the barbecue is coming.”

Arsenal host Chelsea on Sunday as they look to kick on from their north London derby win over Tottenham last weekend.

It has been an unusual week for Arsenal, who have had some rare time on the training pitch, and Arteta is confident they will come out firing against the Blues.

“It has been different, because obviously we haven’t had the time to do that," Arteta said.

"So they had some time off. After we had a little bit more time to train as well. We gathered together in different ways, for example [on Thursday night] we had the Arsenal Foundation event, which was magnificent to be part of. All the boys were there together.

"So it has been a different week, very good for our preparation I believe, and hopefully we can show that on Sunday."