Wayne Rooney believes Mikel Arteta will be telling his Arsenal players not to worry about what Man City are doing after they beat Liverpool.
The Premier League took a dramatic twist over the weekend as Pep Guardiola’s team came from behind to beat Liverpool and close the gap on the Gunners back down to six points.
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Erling Haaland netted a 93rd-minute penalty to seal a crucial win for City and give them a big boost ahead of the midweek fixtures.
Rooney has now been speaking about the title race and warned the North London club what must happen after City’s 2-1 win at Anfield.
Wayne Rooney on Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal message
Wayne Rooney believes that Mikel Arteta should be warning his Arsenal players to focus on themselves rather than Man City’s results.
The five-time Premier League champion has told the Gunners that they will be wasting too much energy focusing on what their title rivals are doing.
Rooney told BBC Sport: “The effect it can have is huge because I remember when we were in title races, and if you played the Saturday or you played earlier and you win and then you see the gap at nine points just by it coming back to six.
“The way it’s happened as well because obviously they put going a goal up, you’re thinking if this stays at nine points then you know what a boost that is for us.
“But then City coming back, you waste energy watching it 100%, so I’m sure Arteta will be telling his players to focus on their job. You can get caught up in it and look at other people’s results, and I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
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Rooney thinks Haaland’s form could be another issue for Arsenal as the striker finally returned to the scoresheet for the first time since the start of January.
He is now backing the City striker to go on a run following his confidence-boosting display away at Anfield on Sunday.
Wayne Rooney on Arsenal players focusing on Man City’s fixtures
The former Man United striker is also certain that Arsenal’s players will be searching for City’s upcoming games and working out how many points they could collect.
“100%? Yeah, and they’ll be looking at the fixtures coming up and trying to work out how many points they feel they’ll win or City will win.
“You get caught up in it all, and in the end, all that matters really is if you win your games,” Rooney added.
The Gunners have shown they are more than strong enough to beat any team and should be focusing on their own matches.
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