William Saliba says Arsenal’s squad will all be Tottenham fans when their arch-rivals take on Premier League title challengers Manchester City on Tuesday.
The Gunners are top of the table by a point ahead of their season finale at home to Everton next Sunday, but Pep Guardiola’s side are able to pip them to the crown for the second straight campaign.
City round off their campaign at home to West Ham after travelling to Tottenham, where the visitors’ failure to win would mean Arsenal head into the final day topping the standings.
Little wonder then that club rivalries are about to be parked for one night only in the red side of north London.
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Advertisement— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 12, 2024
“I think all the team will be Tottenham fans on Tuesday,” centre-back Saliba said.
“Let’s pray for Tuesday. I hope it will be a good week for us and we will see. We did our job today. We have another job next week and let’s see what happens.”
A number of Spurs fans want their own team to lose against City to avoid Arsenal getting their hands on a first Premier League crown since 2004.
But Saliba has no concerns about the mindset of Tottenham’s players given Champions League qualification could still be up for grabs depending on Aston Villa’s result against Liverpool on Monday.
“No, I don’t think so – because they want to play in the Champions League next season,” the France international said.
“I think they will try to win. I know their fans don’t want them to win against City, but they are good competitors so I think they will try their best to win against City.
“We know that Tottenham is a very good team. Our first game and second game with them was not easy. I hope they will be at their best on Tuesday.”
Arsenal went back top of the table with Sunday’s 1-0 victory at Manchester United, where they were far from their best but won thanks to Leandro Trossard’s first-half tap-in.
“We are happy because it wasn’t easy to come here and to take the points,” Saliba said.
Keep believing ✊ pic.twitter.com/VRdSdvT9MZ
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 13, 2024
“It was a long time that we hadn’t come here and taken the three points. Of course, we weren’t so good today, we suffer a lot. But in the end, we took the three points and let’s move to next week.”
The Gunners had only won once in their previous 16 league trips to United and asked whether the players knew about those struggles, Saliba said: “Yeah, of course we knew it was a while that we didn’t win here.
“We weren’t good today, but we took the three points. When we are not at our best, we have to stay compact and suffer until the end. We did well.”
As Arsenal stride on, injury-hit United continue to limp towards the end of the Premier League campaign.
The FA Cup finalists have now lost 19 in all competitions, with the nine Old Trafford defeats their joint-most at home in a season – a record that could be broken against Newcastle on Wednesday.
That result would also end United’s hopes of European qualification through the league with a game to spare and set some unwanted club Premier League records.
Experienced centre-back Jonny Evans, 36, said: “I think we were a bit more compact and more difficult to play through. It helped us stay in the game a little bit at least.
“Obviously on the flip side of that, you know it’s going to be a little bit more difficult to counter-attack. Our two wingers were a little bit deeper in the game.
“But I think we were sort of hoping towards the end of the game that we get a chance or two and take it, but that didn’t really ever sort of materialise.”
