Mikel Arteta has warned his Arsenal players that they can join a different club if they can’t cope with the pressure of a Premier League title race.
The Gunners suffered a chastening 2-2 draw to bottom-placed side Wolves on Wednesday which has thrown the title race open.
Manchester City are two points behind the north London club at the top with Arsenal having now won just twice in seven league matches.
It’s a slump that has raised questions over whether the league leaders are starting to crumble under the pressure, particularly after finishing runners-up for three consecutive seasons.
When asked how he will stop the outside noise affecting his players, Arteta said: ‘You ask them the question: “Do you want to be part of the noise, or not?”
‘If not, go and do something else. Be part of a different club, or do you want to be at Arsenal?
Mikel Arteta has told his Arsenal players to leave the club if they can’t cope with title pressure
‘Everybody has been demanding for 10 years, 15 years, that we need to go back there (fighting for the title), and now we are there, and now what? You don’t want noise?
‘Noise is part of it, and the bullets are part of that, and we try to deal with them in the right way and achieve what we are looking for.’
On Man City closing in on the Gunners, he added: ‘We have to do what we have to do. I don’t think it is going to change for anybody.
‘At the end, you have to win the next match and if you do that you are going to be in a much stronger position and that is the only thing we can control.’