Former Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit is hoping that the Gunners have built the resilience needed to cope with the “pressure” of the title race.

The draw against Liverpool has raised some concerns about Mikel Arteta‘s team and Petit says that, with fixtures versus Manchester City, Newcastle and Brighton coming up, they can’t afford to buckle under the weight of expectation like they did last season:

“For me, the pressure Arsenal were under in the second half, they must be very careful because until the end of the season, they will be under pressure in different games. One’s coming at City, at Newcastle as well.”

“They’ve got Brighton as well who are challenging for Europe, they’ve got teams who are fighting relegation, so there will be moments in those games they are under pressure. I remember the game last season against Spurs, it was six or seven games to go until the end, they lost at Tottenham and were under pressure emotionally, their mental strength crashed during that game.”

“They’ve made big improvements since then, but they must learn from what happened in the second half because that will help them in the coming games. They will be under pressure for sure, and they need to get more personality and have more leaders in those moments.”

It could be argued that the performance in the second half at Anfield were the first chinks in the armour that Arsenal have shown. However, you don’t have to look too far back to see they have also managed to deliver results despite the odds being against them.

They were 2-0 down against Bournemouth at the start of March but managed to seal a last-gasp victory with a superb strike from Reiss Nelson. Title races are very rarely plain sailing and the key is to respond well in the face of adversity. After the minor setback against Liverpool, Arteta’s men will be hoping to make amends versus West Ham on Sunday.

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